Unwavering heart
by Proxy4818
Summary: When an an ordinary university student named Audrey finds herself unable to buy groceries, she ends heading to a public library where she chances upon a fantasy novel which sends her to another world to defend it as the legedary bow hero. Now with her life on the line will she struggles to survive in a world that is crueller than she could have ever thought.
1. Unexpected summoning

**Ok so I've been wanting to do a rising of the shield hero story for a while but never really got around to it until now. **

**I was originally deciding between doing a self insert with the main OC being a fifth hero(which I would have done but hit a very fast snag), one where they're summoned in place of Naofumi as the shield hero(might do that one in the future.) Or one that took inspiration from the story called ****in the people you trust**** before deciding on this idea thought the inspiration from the other story I mentioned will kind of still be there.**

**There were a few other ideas I thought of including a Fitoria X Naofumi fic (that seriously needs to be a thing) but I would rather leave that to someone more skilled than me.**

* * *

"Jeez this is just my luck, of course the bus would decide to break down now of all times."

A young woman around the age of twenty one with long blond hair that came down to her mid back and had two miniature tails tied of both sides along and wore black pants along with a thick cotton white border line shirt that left her shoulders exposed who went by the name of Audrey whose deep blue eyes practically drooped as she walked down the sidewalk.

All she had wanted was to simply wanted to buy more food to store in her dorm but the only method of transportation she currently had available became unusable. Seriously she might have to look into getting her own car, the only reason she didn't already have one was because of the time it would take to save up the money required.

Sighing she simply continued on her way. "Mine as well eat out if only to make my day a little better." With that idea in mind Audrey made her way to a fast food establishment. Once she had ordered her food and sat at the table of her choice she began skimming through her smartphone to pass the time as she tried to figure at what she wanted to do once she was done eating.

She might have gone to an archery range she often frequented if it weren't for the fact that it was currently closed.

Maybe the public library might be an ideal option. While it was only open for a limited number of hours due to it being the weekend Audrey would at least be able to enjoy better internet while she was there.

After she got her food and wolfed it down Audrey wasted no time in headed to her next destination. Once she arrived she sat at a vacant desk and began playing an online app game until it came close to the closing time for the library. Seeing as she would have to return to her dorm soon Audrey figured decided she mine as well check something out while she was at it.

Since she was an avid fan of the fantasy genre she decided it would be a good place to start. After about the first minute or two of browsing she stumbled upon a book called record of the four cardinal heroes before shrugging and pulling it out. Judging from the title it sounded like your run of the mill fantasy story and that impression was only solidified even further when she began skimming through it.

It depicted four heroes wielding different weapons such as a spear, sword, bow, and shield and using them to fight off a catastrophe called the waves. The first two weapons were along the lines of what you would expect a protagonist to wield in the type of setting the book depicted with the bow was something that was more to Audrey's personal preference since it was what she specialized in, the shield was something she wasn't really sure what to make of. While it was definitely useful when used alongside the spear or sword the idea of using just on its own wasn't something that could be considered common granted it could still be used in an offensive manner if one really tried but the fact remained that it was primarily meant to be a defensive armament.

One thing that really snagged Audrey's attention was the mention of a princess, contrary to what would likely be popular belief the lady in question was not the usual pure hearted maiden by any means, rather she was a corrupt whore who vied for the heroes attention manipulating them and turning them against each other.

Audrey couldn't help but roll her eyes upon seeing this. 'This princess might fall from the stereotype but it doesn't sound like she's going to be a likable character by any means, if anything it sound like she'll be a villain more than anything.'

Before she could dive further into the novel the intercom system was activated. "Attention customers the library will be closing in five minutes."

Sighing in slight annoyance at the notion of practically being rushed out the door she hurried to the front desk to check out the book before heading back to her dorm room.

Once she arrived back at her room her phone started ringing. Pulling out her phone she saw that it was her longtime friend before answering. "What's up Patrica?"

"Nothing much, I was wondering if you were still up for catching the upcoming movie tomorrow."

"Yeah, my schedule is still pretty much free."

"Good. Anyway anything good happen today?"

"Not really, if anything my luck has been pretty damn rotten."

Audrey heard a snicker on the other end of the line causing her to roll her eyes "The bus decided today would be a good time to break down so I couldn't buy more food for my room."

"That doesn't sound like a fun day."

"It wasn't, honestly I think I'm starting to realize how Kamijou Touma feels."

That earned a bit of laughter from Patrica. "You mean that anime character?"

"Pretty much."

"At least your luck isn't nearly as non existent."

"True but the whole train thing threw off my entire day."

"Well tomorrow will definitely be better and who knows you might even meet your soulmate."

It was Audrey's turn to laugh. "If I were to actually meet a guy that special tomorrow it'll be amazing considering the odds."

"Just remember to keep a positive attitude."

"Right, anyway I gotta turn soon so I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll be holding you to it. Bye." With that Patrica hung up ending the call. Now with nothing else left to do Audrey decided to continue where she left off with the novel.

From the looks of it each hero had a section dedicated to them individually or least that was supposed to be the case but the shield and bow hero sections were completely blank earning a raised eyebrow from the college student.

"Why is this book even available to checkout when it's incomplete?" Audrey could only sigh at this. While was wasn't exactly expecting too much from the novel she would have at the very least liked for it to serve as a means to pass the time. "So the adolescence of rotten luck refuses to go away even at the very end of the day."

Placing the book on a night stand she preceded to turn in for the night hoping that tomorrow will be a better day as she felt her consciousness faded out.

...at least for a minute or two until. "The summoning was a success."

"Wha- where am I?!" Audrey exclaimed looking around frantically before discovering that she was no longer in her dorm room but rather a stone room located god knows where with a man dressed in robes that looked like they belonged to a priest standing across from her.

"Oh brave cardinal heroes we beg of you please save our world from the waves of disaster."

'Heroes? Are they referring to me?' Audrey wondered before realizing the priest was using the plural version of the word hero meaning there were others brought here if that combined with what the priest said about a summoning being a success was anything to by.

Looking around her Audrey saw three others to both of her sides. To her left was a boy with black hair and a surprisingly feminine face holding a sword with blue jewel embedded in the blade, the second person was a young man around her age with blond hair tied into a ponytail holding a spear with a red jewel embedded in the shaft just below the head.

To Audrey's right was another young man who was also around her age with black hair and green eyes wearing a green and white hoodie and black pants who had a shield with a green jewel in its center looked like he was about to take the initiative to respond to the priest's plea but the guy holding the spear beat him to it.

"We refuse."

The guy holding the shield eyes widened at this and looked as if he was about to protest and to be honest Audrey was about to do the same but unfortunately for either of the two the guy holding the sword was the first to follow up.

"You can't just kidnap us from our world and make such demands. Don't you feel any sense of guilt?"

"Yeah it's pretty insensitive of you to try and force us to risk our lives."

Audrey could only look on in annoyance at the spear and sword holders. While what they were saying could be considered morally right it was clear from their demeanor they didn't care in the least bit about any of that meaning what they were really after was more than likely…..

"We should at least get some kind of reward."

Audrey would have face palmed but a distraction from the came in the form of the realization that she like the other three who were summoned was also holding a weapon. In the palm of her primary hand was a metallic bow with a yellow jewel embedded inside. 'So including the other three summoned here with me we have spear, sword, bow, and shield. This is starting to seem too much like that novel I read.'

All that aside Audrey figured that it was something along the lines of money that the other two heroes were after.

The hero wielding a spear leveled his weapon at the priest. "If you can't even do that much than we might have to become your enemy."

Audrey felt her annoyance become irritation. The spear hero had a bit too much of an ego on him which really didn't paint him in any positive light in Audrey. "Speak for yourselves."

This caused the sword and spear hero to look at Audrey in surprise and disbelief. "Yo-you can't be serious. These people our asking us to risk our lives for them." The latter tried to protest causing Audrey to roll her eyes.

'You say that but you're not actually the least bit worried about that nor is the kid wielding that sword.'

"If you want to dig your own grave by picking a fight that could easily end badly for you be my guest but don't drag me into it."

"You can't mean that you're just gonna roll over and do what they say."

"I intend to at least hear them out and find out what the full situation is and decide where to go from there."

"Seriously? Don't you think that's a little naive?" The sword hero inquired.

"Not as naive as trying to force demands and make blatant threats when you might not be in a position to do either."

The sword scowled at Audrey before the shield hero spoke up. "You know I have to agree with her that maybe we should hear these guys out before making a bunch of demands."

"Thank you." Audrey said glad that someone amongst them had common sense, granted the guy was armed with only a shield but still Audrey appreciated the fact that he didn't have the overinflated ego the other two had. "Anyway is there anyone we can speak with this whole arrangement further like a higher authority?"

The priest breathe a sigh of relief probably glad that the situation was alleviated courtesy of Audrey. "Of course I'll take you to see the king of this country."

With that the priest walked towards the exit of the room which lead to a spiraling staircase going upwards with all four heroes following close behind. While the group made their up what was in all likelihood a tower Audrey took a look outside and saw green meadows as far as the eye could see grassfields out in the horizon meaning she definitely wasn't in her city, country, or even the her world for that matter.

Glancing at the other three heroes is she figured it was safe to assume that they were from Earth just like her, well it might have been obvious from the way they were dressed but there was no absolute form of confirmation as things currently stood since none of the three actually said they were from earth. That aside the question that ran through Audrey's mind was where she was now whilst the other three heroes held their own chat which she tuned out for the time being.

After another minute the group made it to the top of the staircase and from there were brought to a thrown which was unsurprisingly by Audrey's standards was filled with members of the nobility upon one of two thrones sat a man wearing regal purple robes who Audrey could only assume was the ruler.

Along with the other three heroes she bowed to one knee before the king as a sign of respect. "Brave heroes please raise your heads."

All four otherworlders raised their heads to look at the King who continued. "I am the ruler of the Melromarc Aultcray the thirty second and the one who has summoned you to save our world from the catastrophe known as the waves."

'That lines up with what the priest told us.' Audrey thought "Is there any chance we could ask you to elaborate further about the situations with these waves?"

"Of course. You see our world has recently been faced with a catastrophic legend in which hordes of monsters appear in the form of waves which will destroy our world if they are not stopped but unfortunately we thought that this legend was little more than a myth until the dragon hourglass began moving and the first wave appeared."

Audrey raised an eyebrow at this information. If that truly was the case than that would mean that these waves began to attack the world before she or any of the other heroes were summoned but there wasn't any sign of the wave in question.

"Our military forces were able to subdue the wave but at far too great cost that we realized we would never be able to stop the waves on our own so we decided to head the old prophecy and summon you heroes to help us in our time of need."

The spear hero stood up and replied. "That's nice and all but are we getting anything out of this? I mean you guys are asking a pretty huge favor of us so I think we should get some kind of reward for it."

"Of course we'd never ask you to partake in such an endeavor for free, you'll be greatly rewarded for your troubles."

The sword hero took a step forward. "And don't think for a second you can tame us, just because you summoned us doesn't mean we're gonna let you control us."

Audrey could only groan at the sheer amount of ego mixed with sheer stupidity of the sword and spear hero. At this point she was all but expecting the king to decide that they weren't worth dealing with and to have them disposed of but a bit to her surprise and relief the king just nodded as if in understanding.

"Fair enough, now I will ask you future heroes all to introduce yourselves."

Upon hearing this request the spear hero eagerly stepped up to introduce himself. "Motoyasu Kitamura, age twenty one college student."

Audrey noted that the spear hero had a Japanese name which immediately caused her to question how she could understand him but she quickly decided that was a question left for later as the sword hero went next.

"Ren Akami, age 16, highschool student." The sword hero said giving off a tough demeanor which really wasn't anything to be particularly impressed by.

"Audrey Alethea, age twenty one, college student."

The shield hero stepped up next but the king spoke before he had a chance of introducing himself earning a raised eyebrow from Audrey.

"Motoyasu, Ren, and Audrey correct?"

"Yeah but why did you just forget the shield hero? You summoned him to save your world like the rest of us so maybe you shouldn't just forget him like that especially if you want his help." Audrey shot off shocking the king.

The shield hero looked at Audrey with a mixture of surprise and appreciation. "Th-thanks for standing up for me."

"There's no reason for you to be treated unfairly especially when you haven't done anything to warrant it." Audrey leveled the king with a stern gaze.

"M-my Apologies, shield hero you may introduce yourself." The king said bearing a hint of annoyance in his expression for a moment which didn't go unnoticed by Audrey who began to wonder if the king had something against Naofumi.

"Right my name is Naofumi Iwatani, age twenty, college student."

The king leaned back in his chair. "Good now fellow heroes please check your statuses.

Audrey was confused by this request and apparently she wasn't the only one, both Naofumi and Motoyasu looked just as bewildered as she herself was before Ren chimed in. "Haven't you noticed the icon in your peripheral vision?"

Audrey and the other two heroes looked within their peripheral vision and sure enough there was indeed a box shaped icon in the bottom right corner of their sight.

Upon pressing at it with her index figure Audrey was met with the sight of what looked to be her basic stats.

**Audrey Alethea level 1**

**Weapon: legendary bow "locked"**

**Equipment: otherworldly clothes**

**Hp: 148/148**

**Sp 53/53**

**Sta: 15**

**Def: 7**

**Agi: 22**

**Dex: 18**

**Skills: none**

'Ok so these are my basic stats.' Audrey noted. From the looks of it her specialty with lie more in her agility than anything which made sense since at least in the rpg games she's played a bow users was usually something of a nimble long distance light hitter which seemed to apply here if her status was anything to go by.

'It looks like I'll have to avoid being directly on the front lines, with the lack of defense I can't afford to tank damage.' Audrey grimaced at this. It's not that the weakness wasn't to be expected but it wasn't exactly comforting either given the situation that was unfolding.

"Ahh level 1, seriously how are we supposed to fight the waves at level 1?" Motoyasu moaned out.

Ignoring the complaint Audrey inspected her menu even further and pulled up a status tree which showed a massive list of different bows and skills all of which were unsurprisingly locked. It was a safe bet to assume that she'd have to start unlocking them but the question was how, was it a simple matter of just leveling up or was there another step involved.

"You will each have to go out on a journey to strengthen your weapons." The king announced.

"Well until our weapons are stronger we should use different ones that aren't this weak."

Motoyasu said causing Audrey to sigh.

Apparently when he was looking through his menu he must have missed the part where it said the weapon he had was "locked" which could only mean fighting with other weapons was not a possibility.

"If we have to go out to power up our weapons I guess we should form a party." Naofumi suggested enthusiastically only for someone that seemed to be an advisor to shoot that idea down.

"I'm sorry but that won't be possible, legends claim that when the weapons are within close proximity to each other they interfere with one another and as a result neither will grow stronger meaning all of you will have to venture out into the world separately."

"That's not very assuring. Are we seriously supposed to go out by ourselves when we're only level 1?" Motoyasu complained.

"Fear not heroes. We will make sure to find worthy adventures to aid you in your endeavors for now please enjoy a grand feast tonight."

With that the four heroes were lead to a dining area where they soon found that the king meant what he had previously said before they had left the throne room. There was indeed a grand feast waiting for them which the three heroes aside from Audrey wasted no time taking their seats with Ren and Motoyasu on one side whilst Naofumi sat on the other.

Audrey simply took a seat next to Naofumi and began eating what she needed to have her fill for the night whilst reflecting on the entire situation.

After having a day that wasn't filled with the best luck she decided to rent a novel and was transported to this world later on. She found it odd that this world seemed to be based off of the novel in question if her weapon along with others was anything to go by along with the situation the four soon to be heroes were presented with.

Another thing that she found somewhat disturbing was how the world had the characteristics of a game which could very easily mislead a great deal of people into believing this actually was a game but Audrey herself knew better, just from the conversations that were held in the throne room she knew that the people were not simply NPCs, if that was the case they'd only be able to say lines that were in a script but what was witnessed previously was an authentic conversation with both the priest and king.

Essentially the world that she and the others were brought to was real which also meant that the danger from the waves would be very real which in turn meant that if Audrey and the others underestimated the direness of the situation they'd lose their lives. While the others were obviously excited by the entire prospect of everything Audrey was much more uneasy, personally she'd rather just be sent home and leave this in someone else's hands but her intuition told her that those responsible for summoning her wouldn't simply be willing to just let her leave especially if the situation was as desperate as the king described.

Weather she liked it or not the underlying truth was that she had no choice but to cooperate. 'Well I'll need to make sure to learn specifics fast to optimize my chances of making it through this.'

"So Audrey." A voice suddenly said snapping the bow hero at of her thoughts and causing to look in its direction to see Motoyasu smiling confidently at her. "What do you say we explore the town together before we start our adventure tomorrow?"

Audrey had to resist the urge to groan in annoyance (at least on the outside) at Motoyasu's antic, it was obvious what his intention was and Audrey was not the least bit flattered in fact she was more disgusted than anything, she had seen the spear hero's type before skirt chasers that didn't have a shred of faithfulness and thought the opposite sex was just a mass of toys for their amusement, needless to say Audrey was not interested.

"Yeah no."

"Re-really?" Motoyasu asked practically stunned by the fact that his advancement had been rejected outright.

"Yeah, I'll look around the town on my own."

"Al-alright." Judging by his demeanor the spear hero wasn't used to being rejected by the opposite gender hell Audrey was willing to bet the thought of rejection never crossed Motoyasu's mind.

"Don't worry about I'm sure the king can find an adventurer that'll go with you tomorrow." Naofumi said trying to console his fellow hero.

"Maybe but it better be a hot woman." Motoyasu declared causing Naofumi to chuckle and Audrey to roll her eyes whilst the heroes continued eating.

'This guy seriously needs to learn to see past the point of his dick before it gets him killed.'

XXXXX

"Here's one of the rooms we've prepared for you tonight and the other is just the next door over." A maid said leading the heroes to one of two bed rooms prepared specifically for them.

"I could get used to this type of VIP treatment." Motoyasu said taking a seat on one of the beds.

Naofumi simply stood at the entrance and placed his hand on his chin. "This world feels a lot like a game."

"That's because it is a game, haven't you all noticed the resemblance to emerald online?"

This earned confused stares from Naofumi and Ren whilst Audrey just remained stoic until the sword hero decided to break the brief silence.

"Seriously? I think you're mistaken, if anything this game is based off the famous VRMMO brave star online."

"Huh? I've never heard of it."

"You're kidding right? You know about some game that hasn't even made it into the mainstream but you have no idea what the biggest online game is?"

"That's my line, there practically isn't a soul that hasn't heard of emerald online."

Motoyasu turned his gaze to the other two occupants. "You two know about the game right."

Naofumi just were an awkward smile."Actually I haven't really heard of either of the games you mentioned."

"Neither have I for that matter." Audrey said offhandedly.

"Seriously? Is everyone here from a different world or something?"

Ren shrugged at this. "Maybe, who's the prime minister of Japan?" Motoyasu and Noafumi both gave different answers before the sword hero divulged a third name.

"Ok whose face is on the one thousand yen bill."

Again all three came out with different answers. Audrey meanwhile slumped her shoulders before adding her impute. "I guess that settles it, were all from different versions of japan as well as the US if you consider me in all this.

"True but I still want to know how we all got here?" Ren replied.

"Is there anything you can tell us about yourself coming here?"

"Well believe it or not I was with my friend when against all odds we somehow managed to run into a serial killer of all things."

All three of the other rooms occupants were taken aback by this new info. "Yo-you serious?!" Naofumi exclaimed.

"Yeah both me and my friend basically got into an altercation which lead to me getting stabbed to death before I suddenly found myself here."

Motoyasu whistled. "Damn that sound as gruesome as what happened to me."

"Were you stabbed to?"

"Pretty much. By two cute girls I knew."

Noafumi wore a look and envy whilst Audrey's opinion of Motoyasu dropped significantly more.

"Two timing?" Ren inquired casually to which Motoyasu scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Pretty much, woman can be scary." The spear hero replied shivering a bit whilst Audrey could only roll her eyes thinking 'A shame you had to come back to life.'

Motoyasu then turned to Noafumi. "So how did you end up here?"

"Well you see…" the shield hero trialed off.

"Yeah?"

"I basically read a light novel depicting the four cardinal heroes before being transported here."

This earned full blown laughter from the spear hero. "Seriously how lame. So how about you?" He inquired directing the question at Audrey.

"The same as Naofumi actually."

"Well...it's good that nobody hurt you before you came here."

'And I guess Naofumi's wellbeing is irrelevant to you?' "Right, so anyway tomorrow we might want to try getting a feel for our weapons."

"Fair enough, cutting down level monsters auto be a good place to start. Though I don't know how Noafumi will fair." Motoyasu said glancing at the shield hero with pity.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" Noafumi inquired.

"You have the worst weapon out of all of us here. In Emerald online shielders were only good at the start of the game since all they can do is block and that became obsolete when players encounter stronger monsters so there were never any high level shielders. To be blunt, the shielder is a useless class that only losers use."

Naofumi turned to Ren. "What about your game?"

"Same, the shield class was useless since it couldn't attack."

Noafumi sighed before walking out to the outer balcony. Audrey was about to become worried for the shield hero being too discouraged thanks to his fellow heroes using the opportunity to put him down for the sake of making themselves look superior when his enthusiasm suddenly returned.

"Aright I just have to get through this in spite of my situation."

Audrey genuinely smiled for the first time since she had been summoned to this world at the sight of Noafumi's outlook on things. While it may have been on the naive side since like the other two he thought that this was a game it was genuinely heartwarming to see his spirit restored.

Walking up to Noafumi Audrey placed a hand on his shoulder to gain his attention. "It's nice to see you stay positive but why don't we get to our room for the night."

"Alright**.**"

XXXXX

"Say Audrey?" Naofumi asked from his bed.

"Yes."

"Do you think the shield is as useless as Motoyasu and Ren made it out to be?"

Audrey had to do a double take just to make sure she heard Naofumi correctly. After the enthusiasm he had previously shown she honestly wasn't expecting her current roommate to actually be harboring doubts about his situation.

"Even if it proved to be inadequate in their respective games doesn't mean it will here."

"Re-really?"

"Yeah. If it does turn out you can't attack then just focus on what you can do which would be defending your teammates."

"Ri-right." Naofumi replied weekly.

"Attacking isn't absolutely everything, just as it allows you to take out an opponent defending keeps you alive. You can have all the attack power you want but if you have no defense to endure anything then all it takes is a couple well placed hits to take you out. Shields are a lot more vital then some might think so do don't let what the other two said define you."

"You're right and….thanks. Also there was one thing I was a bit curious about?"

"I'm all ears."

"Was your light novel the same as mine? You know with the whore princess and each hero except the shield having their own section dedicated entirely to them."

"Actually yeah but in my version there was no section for the bow hero either."

"Really? In my version it said the bow hero was dedicated to the pursuit of justice or something like that."

"I see." Audrey replied unsure of what else to say. If the bow hero was indeed supposed to embody some kind of ideal sense of justice then the weapon probably should have chosen Patrica as a candidate, she would have fit the criteria much better the Audrey ever could.

"Are you someone who's dedicated to justice?"

"Not exactly. I have a friend who would probably have met that particular expectation. She's definitely been there for me during some hard times back when I was still in high school."

"How'd she do that if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well I had one perverted asshole who you could say was basically the western version of Motoyasu in a lot of ways at my school who basically wanted to screw anything he thought he could get his hands on and he eventually set his sights on me."

"And what happened?"

"I rejected the asshole but he wouldn't get the message through his head until I gave him a bloody lip."

"Wow!"

"You shocked?"

"It's just a little hard to imagine."

"I'm stronger than I look but to be fair under normal circumstances I wouldn't do something like that but this guy was someone who wouldn't back off otherwise."

"So where does you friend come into this."

"Well it has to do with what followed. Basically the asshole went around telling his fanclub that I knocked him out for no reason and naturally this lead to two things."

Naofumi listened intently. "First my reputation plummeted and the fanclub tried to exact revenge by ganging up on me."

"I'm guessing your friend stood up for you?"

"Yeah even though it caused her to lose the better part of her other friends she didn't care, in her mind helping me out when I needed someone on my side and doing the roght thing was more important than her own self image."

"She sounds pretty admirable."

"She is. She stood up for me in a situation where most others would have simply left me or anyone else in a similar enough situation to mine to the wolves."

Noafumi thought about what Audrey had just told him and realized it was indeed true. During his high school days he had witnessed a fair share of situations where a fellow student would have a bad rumor started about them and even when it was obvious that the said rumor was a lie if one would think about it students would simply leap at the chance to believe whatever was said and the subject of rumor would lose all their friends, to have someone who is willing to stay by your side in a situation like that was truly a rarity and a blessing.

"Sounds like you had it rough, at least you're better off than I was in some ways."

Audrey raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. With her social life being what it was at that point in time it would take something pretty dramatic to top it in terms of hardship. "How so?"

"You see I'm kind of an otaku."

"You certainly seem like one but what exactly does that have to do with you potentially having a harder life than mine?"

"In japan Otaku's aren't exactly viewed in a positive light by most."

"Really? I've seen a few anime shows that have depicted people not caring much for them but I never knew that they were actually hated."

"Well I wasn't an outcast by society but I was by my parents."

Audrey became slightly nervous believing she had brought up a sensitive subject "Oh, sorry I asked."

"It's fine. Basically since I was a run of the mill otaku my parents basically lost any hope in me doing anything worthwhile and focused their attention on my younger brother."

"It must have been hard on you."

Noafumi scratched the back of his head. "You're not exactly wrong, I was practically disowned by my parents but it wasn't much better for my brother believe it or not."

Audrey raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? I would have thought that with how your parents treated you they would dote on your brother."

"They did but they also put a great deal of pressure on him."

"I'm guessing they were trying to push him to make achievements?"

"Pretty much, they were basically trying to mold him into the idea model child with every academic achievement possible so they could flaunt it."

Audrey felt a sense of growing disgust at Naofumi's parents for viewing their children the way they did as the shield hero continued his story.

"But things didn't go the way they had hoped."

"Did they push him too far or something?"

"Pretty much. They basically put so much pressure on my brother that it lead him reaching his breaking point and beginning to rebel against them via doing things he shouldn't."

"Things like?"

"Failing classes, drugs, gang affiliation, you name it."

"So your parents practically disowned you and drove your brother off the deep end. For whatever it's worth I hope your family situation gets better."

Naofumi smiled temporarily confusing Audrey until his next reply came. "You don't have to worry it already did after I stepped in."

"Really, how?" Audrey inquired genuinely curious as to whatever Naofumi may have done to remedy his family's situation.

"My brother eventually came to me with his problems so I decided to help out the only I could think of. I basically introduced him to the world of anime and video games."

"And that helped?"

"Yeah having the chance to unwind for once in a long time he almost instantly became infatuated and the world of otakus gained a new member."

Audrey couldn't help but giggle when she tried to imagine a delinquent instantly transitions into a haedcore anime lover.

"Thanks to that he stopped doing things he shouldn't have and made up with my parents."

"But what about you. I think after what you did to help him you deserve for something good to have come of it for yourself."

"I did, my parents thanked me and apologized for disowning me and backed off when it came to my brother and just let him be himself."

"I'm glad."

It was Naofumi's turn to be baffled. "Wh-why? It's not that big of a deal."

Audrey gazed at Naofumi with a smile that held such sincerity that it caused the shield hero to inadvertently blush.

"Think I might have to beg to differ, what you done was something so selfless that it's actually amazing."

"I don't think it's all that." Naofumi try to deny not used to receiving such praise, especially from a girl as beautiful as Audrey. Wait Beautiful? Well actually she was attractive but for the life of him Noafumi couldn't figure why he was suddenly taking much notice in that fact.

"But it is. It's one thing to do a simple favor for someone. But it's another when you go out of your way to help them at the lowest point of their lives even when your own situation wasn't so good, I'd even go as far as to say most people in your position at that time probably would have refused to do anything for your brother out of sheer jealousy of the fact they were being so favored."

"Maybe but that wasn't his fault, it was just the way my parents were, they wanted overachievers that they could brag about to their friends and coworkers. A lot of adults in Japan are like that so I couldn't blame my brother."

"Fair enough, but I still think you have a lot more worth than your parents believe."

"You really mean that?"

"Yeah, there aren't a lot of people like you and Patrica who are willing to go out of their way to help others even when it either cost them something or their own situation is already bad, that's why I can say without a single that you guys show the best parts of what people are truly capable of being. Honestly I hope that I get a chance to lend someone my support when they need it the most."

Naofumi scratched the back of his head. Honestly he really wasn't used to someone holding him in such high regard for one little selfless act, still Audrey did have a point when she pointed out that a lot of people wouldn't have done what her friend Patrica had done for her or what Naofumi had done for his little brother considering the circumstances behind both situations. "Well who knows you might get the chance to help someone through the lowest point of their life while were here."

"Maybe. Anyway let's rest up while we can." Audrey said whilst laying on her bed and stretching out her.

"Alright. We have a long day ahead of us, I can't wait to see what teammates I'm gonna get."

'Hopefully some that it'll help keep you safe through this whole thing.' Audrey thought to herself. While she wasn't sure what to make of Naofumi at the beginning of the day after learning more about him Audrey realized that in spite of being something of a gaming nerd he was truly a generous person much like her best friend, while the shield hero wasn't someone she was close to especially considering they had only just met each other today she could at least say with complete honesty that she wanted him to get through this situation safely even if like the other two heroes he was mistaking this world for a game.

* * *

**Alright that's it for the first chapter of this story sorry if not much happened this chapter was mostly just introducing the main OC and establishing her relationships with the other 3 heroes and some of her general character.**

**It's pretty self explanatory but for starters, Audrey isn't going to like Itsuki. She has a genuine desire to help those in need as shown by her final conversation with Naofumi as opposed to Itsuki who's sense of justice amounts to nothing but self serving delusional Bull$#!+.**

**Also if you want a better idea of what Audrey looks like facially she's modeled after Alisa Reinford from trials of cold steel.**

**Until next time.**


	2. Beginnings and suspicions

**I only had the first chapter and I gotta say it came off to a better start than I had hoped sp as I thank you all here's a belated holiday gift.**

**Disclaimer: I don't ROTSH**

As she felt herself stir awake Audrey looked around and scrutinized the scenery around her,

upon discovering that she was in a room that looked like something out of the medieval era she remembered everything that happened the previous day, particularly the parts that took place after she was suddenly summoned to the country of Melromarc to fight against a catastrophe known as the waves.

'So it wasn't a dream after all.' Honestly Audrey had truly hoped everything from before was indeed a dream so she could simply wake up in her dorm room and catch the movie she agreed to see with Patrica.

The idea that she was suddenly going to have to risk her life for a world that had nothing to do with her didn't exactly appeal to Audrey, especially since she had never actually agreed to any of this to begin with, at least not of her own free will but rather was forced into the position upon being summoned as one of the four cardinal heroes since it was unlikely that those responsible for beinging her here would simply let her walk away.

'Well I guess all I can do is figure out where the best place to start would be.' A sudden knock on the door to the room snapped the bow hero out of her thoughts.

"Excuse me heroes, his majesty has summoned for all of you." A feminine voice that Audrey could only assume belonged to one of the maids said.

"Alright I'll be out in a minute."

Immediately after Audrey finished that sentence another spoke up that was completely different from the first one. "Hurry will you? We don't have all day."

Audrey groaned in annoyance. One of the two people she really didn't care to see was apparently outside her door, the sword hero Ren.

Ignoring her fellow hero Audrey walked over to the opposite side of the room where Naofumi was laying. Placing a hand on his shoulder Audrey preceded to gently shake him awake.

"Naofumi it's time to get up."

"Mmm h-huh." As Naofumi stirred awake he was greeted to the sight of Audrey smiling at him which caused him to have to fight off oncoming blush as he greeted her. "Oh uh Audrey is something going on?"

"Apparently the king has summoned us."

"Really? What for?"

"Probably to meet the companions he offered to find for us."

"Of yeah we're all supposed to start on our adventure today." Naofumi said with tone filled with excitement at the prospect. Audrey was worried that his naivety was going to land him in a bad situation, if that happened she would do what she could to mitigate whatever damage ended being done but it would be up to Naofumi to wake up to the reality of the situation which brought up another source of worry.

When the Naofumi and the other two were forced to realize the reality of their situation would they still be willing to fight the waves? Audrey had a hard time imagining that to be the case for the other two otherworlders. the spear hero was little more than a sex crazed degenerate not unlike the guy who all but ruined Audrey's high school life, the sword hero was arrogant and gready to the point that it was rather unlikely that he'd take well to being grounded by realtiy, and Naofumi while he was a great person, one who reminded Audrey of her friend Patrica in many ways she wasn't sure if he'd still have the will to go forward considering he was almost dispirited thanks to his fellow heroes painting his situation as hopless just to stroke their own egos.

Audrey could only pray that the shield hero would have someone by his side who could support when he needed it since her position as a fellow hero made the possibility of Audrey doing so herself a rather tall goal that she wasn't sure she had the resolve to strive for.

Whatever happened in the future Audrey could only cross those bridges when she came to them.

As Naofumi got out of bed he turned to Audrey. "Man I'm excited, getting summoned as hero to go on an adventure, I can hardly wait."

"Right, well anyway let's get going I don't feel like listening to Ren whine anymore." With that Audrey headed for the door with Naofumi following close behind.

Upon opening the door Audrey and Naofumi were greeted to the sight of a maid, an annoyed looking Ren, and a jealous Motoyasu glaring at Naofumi whilst mutter the words "lucky bastard" under his breath causing Audrey to roll her eyes in annoyance before Ren decided to speak up. "Took you long enough."

"Whine to someone who actually cares about what you want." Audrey shot back shutting the sword hero up before turning to the maid.

"We're all here so please take us to the throne room."

"Right this way." The maid replied leading the four heroes to their current destination. Once they arrived at the throne room the King along with numerous nobles were waiting to see them.

Many of the noble woman were eyeballing Motoyasu and Ren with admiration and desire, the former unsurprisingly gave many of them flirtatious glances whilst the latter simply ignored them.

A few of the noble men both young and old were even eyeing Audrey much to her annoyance and disgust, she could already guess what they wanted which was something she had no intention of giving them. Another she noticed was that quite a few were shooting glares and looks of disgust in Naofumi's direction prompting Audrey raise her one of her eyebrows ever so slightly.

Did these people have something against Noafumi? If so why? He hasn't done or said anything to earn anyone's hostility, if there was anyone that deserved the people's disdain it was Motoyasu and Ren considering they had wasted no time in making it very clear that their priorities lie more with their own greed rather than the wellbeing of the people.

Audrey could only hope that this wouldn't affect Noafumi's standing with whoever his companions would be.

As all four heroes bowed before Aultcray he wasted no time in announcing his intentions.

"Fellow heroes, as promised we have found worthy adventurers to aid you in your quest to save our world."

Immediately after the King finished that sentence numerous people walked out wearing a variety of equipment and weaponry. Audrey figured that they had different roles such as front and rear line fighters as well as magic users.

Many of them certainly looked the part. Another thing that the Audrey took notice of was that while some of the adventures were looking at her and the other heroes in anticipation other were more contemplative looks and there were others who shot brief looks of contempt at Naofumi which set off red flags immediately for Audrey.

It was one thing when it was the nobility showing subtle signs of resentment towards him but for the adventures that were supposed to be helping the heroes was another. In fact the only that person seemed to show any sign of viewing Naofumi in a positive light was a red haired woman who smiled warmly at Naofumi and even waved at him momentarily which gave Audrey a glimmer of hope for the shield hero.

"Now choose the hero you wish to serve." The King announced. Upon hearing this all the adventures began walking towards Audrey and the other three heroes. Meanwhile Motoyasu and Naofumi watched in a mixture of excitement anticipation whilst Ren just maintained a stoic demeanor.

Soon the adventures had all lined up behind the Hero they wanted to serve. Ren had five people, Motoyasu had four, and Audrey had three leaving no one for Naofumi.

Upon noticing this Naofumi was dumbfounded when it became apparent that he would have no one with him during his adventure. "Why hasn't anyone here joined my party?" He asked his voice laced with confusion and worry.

Audrey noticed this too. She had hoped at least the red head would join him but instead she went for Motoyasu. 'I guess she didn't have any sincerity toward Naofumi after all.' Still if that was the case why did she shoot him that smile? It was fairly obvious he was meant to notice it; something wasn't right with this pitcher.

"I must admit this is something I haven't foresaw." King mused caused Audrey to eye him with suspicion as he continued. "Perhaps this is because the shield hero doesn't have the charisma of three have?"

In the next moment the advisor whispered something into the king's ear before Aultcray turned to the four otherworlders.

"It seems a disturbing rumor has been circulating around the castle."

Audrey now glaring at the king stepped forward before replying. "And what exactly would this disturbing rumor be?"

"Apparently there are those that have reason to believe that the shield hero has no knowledge of our world, even though the prophecies state that all the heroes are supposed to have extensive knowledge of it."

"And what reason does anyone have for believing Naofumi knows nothing about this world, how could anyone here even have the slightest inkling to how much he supposedly knows about the world when no one has even spoken to him about it?"

The king looked uncomfortable and from the looks of it he was trying to think of a response to give to Audrey's question. "Well you see miss Alethea….one of our servants had a chance to speak with the shield hero the previous night about it and that's where he confessed his lack of foresight at least according to them."

Noafumi looked shocked and confused. "But that never….."

The king cut him off. "Anyhow that's just how it is, there's no helping the situation now shield hero."

Audrey became irritated at this point realizing from the kings demeanor and his dismissal of Noafumi's protest that he was in on this ploy confirming Audrey's suspicion that the king was indeed against Noafumi. "Really now? Because I found that rumor spread about Naofumi really odd considering he was with me and the other heroes that entire time and even after we all retired he was still with me the entire time from then on since we were sharing a room, so I know for a fact he couldn't have had any chance to speak to any of the servants." Audrey declared.

Once again the king was unable to come of with an immediate response. Looking around frantically the king's eyes finally settled on Naofumi himself. "Shield hero, let me ask right here and now do you have any wisdom of our world?"

Naofumi scratched the back of his head whilst wearing an uncomfortable expression probably from being put in the spotlight and staring towards the ground. "Well the truth is I really don't much at all."

Aultcray let out a sigh of relief disguised as one of disappointment. "I see, so in the end the rumors were true after all."

Audrey could only growl in annoyance before stepping back. After everything that's happened she already suspected that the king was just manipulating things to paint Naofumi as incompetent but at this point there was nothing else Audrey could say since Naofumi's admittance of his lack of knowledge of how the world worked. Still it wasn't fair for that to be a catalyst for people to refuse to aid him, afterall in spite of what any prophecies might proclaim there was actually no way for anyone to know exactly what to expect when going to a new world. Ren and Motoyasu might think they do but their source of information was from their worlds' respective video games which Audrey highly doubted actually revealed nearly as much as the two of them thought they did since the world they were in was real.

As Audrey was mulling over whatever she could do to help Noafumi an unexpected voice broke out.

"Excuse me, I would like to join the shield hero's party."

Everyone looked in the direction the voice came from and saw one of Motoyasu's soon to be party members, more specifically the red haired woman from before who continued. "I don't think the shield hero should have to fight alone, so since no one else is willing to help his when he needs it the most I guess it'll fall to me."

This only set off another alarm in Audrey's mind. While she had previously placed some hope in the idea that this woman would sincerely support Naofumi but it became clear that wasn't going to happen, if she actually cared to fight alongside him at all she would have joined his party right from the start instead of initially going to the spear hero's party.

All of this begged the question of why was she really joining Naofumi. Was she planning on simply taking advantage of his situation or something worse?

Audrey could watch warily as the redhead walked up to Naofumi extending her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you shield hero."

Naofumi took her hand and shook it whilst replying. "Likewise miss…"

"Myne Sophia."

The King decided to address everyone. "Now that all the heroes have their parties assembled we will now distribute funds to all of you."

Upon hearing this four servants holding bags began walking towards the four heroes handing the bags in question.

"As you venture out to fight off the waves we will give all you funds each month to support you in your quest. Motoyasu, Ren, Audrey all of you shall receive 500 silver whereas the shield hero shall receive 800 silver since he only has a single party member."

Audrey could only look at the king masking her disgust at this situation. Considering how far the king was going to discriminate against Naofumi it was obvious that he only gave him extra funds to feign being fair.

"Thanks this'll definitely help." Naofumi said express his gratitude believing that the king actually meant well. Of course the king didn't bother with any reply and instead opted to address all four heroes.

"Now heroes destined to save our world go out and grow stronger so that you can combat the waves."

With that all four heroes turned to leave the castle. Once everyone was outside Naofumi stopped to turn to his companion. "Say Myne do you know I place where I can get some gear for myself?"

"Of course right this way."

"Mind if I join you?" Audrey asked drawing looks of surprise from her companions as well as Myne whereas Naofumi simply smiled at her before replying. "Not at all."

It was then that one of Audrey's companions, a large set man wearing full body armor who Audrey could only dub "Armor" since she didn't know his name decided to speak up. "Mistress Audrey surely there's no need to go there with the shield hero of all people."

Audrey turned to scrutinize her companions briefly and realized that all three of them were amongst those that shot Naofumi dirty looks when they first arrived at the throne room in order to pair themselves with a hero.

"Yeah maybe I don't necessarily need to."

Armor smiled triumphantly while Naofumi began to look downcast before Audrey continued. "But I want to and as such that's what I'm going to do." Upon hearing Naofumi's expression turned into one of relief while Armor looked dumbfounded not seeing this development coming.

"Bu-but why do you feel the need to go with the shield hero?"

Audrey had to suppress the urge to face palm at armor's ridiculous persistence. "Two reasons, first I do need to get some gear before I head out to fight monsters."

"I….understand." Armor admitted unable to against that logic.

"And Naofumi is practically my first friend in this world." Audrey said firmly making it clear she wouldn't change her mind on this matter.

"We'll be waiting for you at the front got of the city."

"Alright I'll meet you there."

Audrey turned to Naofumi. "Now that that little ordeal is over with let's head to the nearest place to get some gear for ourselves."

"Ri-right."

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just that it felt like that guy didn't think too highly of me for some reason."

Audrey sighed at this. Of course Naofumi noticed that, Armor didn't exactly hide it. "No he's just like that shield hero. Try not to think too much in it." Myne said earning an eye roll from the bow hero.

Was Myne seriously trying to deny the obvious? It was pretty apparent that Armor didn't like Naofumi with how he acted when Audrey said she wanted to join the duo on their trip to see the best place to provide them with gear, Armor wasn't simply complaining about the notion of her going there in general what he didn't like was the fact that she was going with Naofumi if what he said previously said was of any Indication.

Regardless Audrey didn't care for the hassle of having a disagreement with Myne considering the hassle she'd already been through so she stayed silent on that matter and moved to the one at hand. "Anyway let's head to that shop."

"Very well the shop is this way." Myne said as she began leading the two throughout the city streets.

"So Alethea what do you plan on doing once we get our gear?" Naofumi inquired.

Audrey placed a hand on her chin as she thought about for a moment. "I'll pretty much just meet up with my party, take out a few low level monsters to level up a bit and apply what upgrades to my bow that I'm able to."

"That reminds do you have any idea how to do that? Upgrade our legendary weapons I mean."

"From what I've read in the tutorial from the menu we all have we're apparently supposed to feed various materials and different parts from various monsters we kill to the jewels our weapons have."

"Is that seriously how it works?"

"Yeah if what I read is correct then the jewels embedded in our weapons a absorb different types of materials which in turn leads to a corresponding version of our weapon being unlocked." As Audrey finished explaining this she remembered when she discovered this information the previous night during the end of dinner.

_As the other three heroes continued digging into the feast prepared Audrey decided to take this time to see what other information she could find about how the weapon worked._

_Looked through her menu she found a few options aside from her stats and skill tree, the one that caught her attention was titled "weapon use."_

_Opening the tab up she was showed instructions about how to go about upgrading her bow. Skimming over the text for a few minutes she soon found out that the bow was upgraded via feeding it different materials and various monster part separately which in turn gave stat bonuses, equip bonuses, and skills._

_Audrey was about to close the menu when she spotted one more vital piece of information that would definitely be of use going forward._

"Oh yeah that also reminds me Naofumi. If you unlock any skills for your shield that you have unlocked you can enhance the skill in question raising its level by sacrificing drops you have in your inventory once you meet the level requirement to do so."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well I don't recall having and type of inventory."

"Huh? It should be right there in your menu."

"Really?"

"Yes, considering how our weapons work it's only natural weapon we'd have one."

"Well now that I think about it, you're right, it wouldn't make any sense for us not to have one."

"If you realize that then check your menu it'll be there."

"Aright." With that Naofumi opened his menu and soon after his eyes widened slightly. "How did I miss this?"

"See? you have an item inventory too."

Naofumi chuckled a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry for doubting you, it's just that for some reason I completely missed all the other times I looked through my menu for some reason."

"Oblivious much?" Audrey asked jokingly.

"Maybe, the thing was literally right there under the tab for my skill tree I can't figure out how I didn't notice it was there before."

Audrey couldn't help but giggle at this. "Well now you do. Try not to forget."

"I won't but man I kinda wanna try unlocking a random shield right now but I don't have anything I can feed it."

"I think I might be able to help with that." Audrey pulled two quarters from her pocket drawing a curious look from a previously disinterested Myne who was simply leading the way in silence until now.

"What type of coins are those? I never seen silver like that before."

"It's currency from my home country." Audrey answered.

"I see." Myne replied before she went back to simply leading the heroes and ignoring their conversation.

Audrey turned her attention back to Naofumi and gave him one of the quarters. "Let's try feeding our weapons these."

Audrey touched the quarter she still had to the jewel in her bow while Naofumi did the same with the quarter he was given touching it to the jewel on his shield.

Both the legendary bow and shield reacted the same way as their respective jewels lit up before both quarters were absorbed into them.

Audrey saw new text appear in her field of vision displaying information about the result of letting the bow absorb the quarter.

**Currency bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Agi + 3 dex + 1**

**Equip effect: money storage 0/300 gold **

**Skills: none**

**Silver bow unlocked**

**Status bonus: Agi + 13 Atk + 7 dex + 9**

**Equip effect: Atk up (small)**

**Skill: none**

Audrey didn't expect to unlock two bows simultaneously but when she thought about it might have made sense. The quarter was a form of currency which corresponded with the former of the two bows while the quarter being made of silver corresponded with the latter of the two new versions of the bow.

The currency bow while it didn't do much in terms of enhancing her base stats it did come with a very useful feature which she suspected might ensure that no one could rob her if they ever intended to.

The latter did a better job of giving her a boost in her overall prowess meaning there were some bows that would do more than others, still Audrey had no way of knowing which bows contributed to which specific stats or how much or which ones would grant her kills and since that was the case Audrey figured she'd just unlocking every bow she could. She'd probably find numerous ones that only contributed a small amount of stat boost but given the situation every bit would count and besides if while the lesser bows might not be much on their own they could still add up in terms of stat boost which would payoff later on.

"I unlocked two bows, a currency one that holds money and a silver one that came with a nice stat bonus which'll help get off to a good start." Audrey said.

"Same here, I got a currency shield with the same function as your bow and a silver shield the gave me a nice defense and agility boost."

"That good it'll give you a head start when you head out to start taking on monsters."

"Good point."

"We're here." Myne suddenly announced and the two heroes looked to see what looked like a weapons type store which Myne wasted no time in leading the two inside of.

"Welcome!" A voice bellowed as the two heroes came in and were greeted to the sight of a middle-aged bald man with a scar on his face who turned to get a look at both of them. "I've never seen you two before."

"These two are the bow and shield heroes." Myne announced.

The old man's eyes widened a bit before he so simply smiled at the duo. "I never imagined I'd be bestowed the opportunity to see two of the legendary heroes up close."

Audrey stepped forward. "Nice to meet you my name's Audey Alethea and he's Naofumi Iwatani."

"Erhard, anyway since your both here is there any chance of either of you doing business here?"

Naofumi walked up to the counter. "Yeah, both of us were wondering if we could get equipment for ourselves."

Erhard smirked. "So long as you got the money for it."

"Gotcha." Naofumi replied before turning to Myne. "Is there anything you want?"

"I'd like to purchase a sword." Myne said skimming through the more elaborate looking swords which didn't go unnoticed by Audrey who realized Myne was taking advantage of this situation to milk Naofumi out as much funds as she could.

As Myne pulled what was clearly one of the more expensive swords off the rack she eagerly brought it to the counter. "Believe this one will do."

"Alright how much?" Noafumi inquired.

"650 silver." The owner answered shocking Naofumi.

"Any chance I could get a discount?"

"Not on something this high quality."

"Well then maybe it might be best to go with something a little less expensive." Audrey suggested causing everyone to look at her.

Myne appeared to be show a brief hint of irritation which didn't go unnoticed by Audrey who simply continued. "Since none of us will be getting anymore funds until next month it might be best to be a bit more economical and not spend everything up in one place."

"You got a good point." Naofumi admitted before Myne piped up.

"Maybe but it would be for the best if we had the best weapons possible for the sake of it giving us an advantage when fighting monsters right from the start." She said frantically.

Audrey could tell that the red haired adventurer didn't want the opportunity to get an expensive piece of equipment for herself to be shot down. Too bad for her though since Audrey had no intention of letter her trick Noafumi.

"Maybe but it's also best to have something you can properly handle."

"I assure you lady Audey I am proficient with a sword."

"Maybe but I'm guessing a higher quality weapon requires a higher level to use properly." Audrey turned to Erhard. "Am I right?"

"You are. I wouldn't recommend trying to use a sword well beyond your level. You'll have to be at least up to level 60 to use that one effectively."

"Does you level really effect what weapons you can and can't use?" Naofumi asked.

"Yeah people at lower levels are best using basic weapons and moving up the ladder as they level up. If you don't use a weapon that has quality corresponding to your current level it can have different negative effects depending if the weapon is meant for someone at a lower or higher level than your own.

"What happens if you use a weapon that's below you level?" Naofumi asked.

"Well if you were to use a sword it would lose its sharpness at an abnormally fast pace or burn your hand if your using a magic sword."

"And how about if you were to use a sword beyond your level?" Audrey ask causing Myne to struggle to repress a scowl threatening to surface.

"It would feel abnormally heavy and you wouldn't be able to swing it properly or make any clean cuts basically making your attacks ineffective against your opponent."

Audrey turned to Naofumi party member and her information was displayed revealed that she was only level 3. "Well Myne it looks like you have another 57 levels to go before you can actually use that sword."

"I….I see." Myne said taking the sword she had back to the rack growling in rage under her breath along the way which Audrey had to resist the urge the smile at.

Now it Naofumi's turn to browse the swords before he grabbed a basic iron sword. "Speaking of weapons I actually need one for myself."

"Wait Naofumi. You likely can't use it." Audrey said.

"Huh why?"

"When you looked at your base stats did it show that your shield was locked?"

"Yeah but what does that have to do with me getting a sword for myself?"

"You probably can't equip anything other than your shield."

"Are you sure?"

"Not completely but my intuition is telling me that's the case."

"Well…" Naofumi preceded to draw the sword to see if Audrey was right. For the first moment everything seemed fine as the sword came out of its sheath easily enough but in the next moment Noafumi suddenly received a painful shock that forced him to let go of the sword.

"What happened?!" Erhard asked.

"I was shocked out of the blue for some reason." Naofumi opened his eyes to see a notification that confirmed what Audrey had warned him of.

**Legendary weapon rule violation. The heroes may not use any weapon with the intent to fight other than the legendary weapon they are currently equipped with.**

Naofumi sighed in defeat. "Audrey it looks like you were right."

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah I received a painful shock but it didn't do any permanent damage."

"That's good to know. Anyway let's just focus on getting some basic gear for ourselves and buy the sword for Myne instead.

"Alright."

Audrey turned back to Erhard. "Any recommendations?"

"For the young lad I've got a decent set of chainmail. For you I think light leather should do. It'll give basic you basic protect without inhibiting you ability to move."

"Sounds good to me."

"In that case, give me a minute to get both of the sets." With that Erhard walked into the back of the store and eventually returned with a set of chainmail and a white long sleeved tunic shirt along with a corset like leather blazer.

"How much?" Naofumi asked.

"150 silver for the chainmail with the buyback price being 100 and for the leather set 90 silver with the buyback price being 75."

Noafumi leaned over the counter with a smirk on his face "Any chance you could lower the price for the chainmail to let's say 100 silver."

"Yeah I ain't going that low, maybe 135 silver."

"120."

"Ya got yourself a deal." Erhard said before Naofumi placed the amount of silver required to purchase the chainmail before taking it to the fitting room to try it on.

Meanwhile Erhard turned to Audrey. "So what about you miss?"

"I'll be buying this set at full price, that being said however that doesn't I won't try haggling you for lower prices in the future." The bow hero said as placed the amount needed to pay for the leather set.

It was around this time that Naofumi emerged from the fitting room now wearing the set of chainmail in place of his hoodie. "Looks like its a good fit." Audrey commented.

"It's a little loose in some areas but it'll do."

"Your up miss." Erhard said to Audrey who immediately went to the fitting to try on the gear she bought. The tunic went on easily and was a decent enough fit when it came to the leather blazer she had to be careful to tighten it enough that it would stay firmly in place but not so much that it would cut off her air circulation.

Emerging from the room she was greeted to the sight of Naofumi purchasing the short sword for Myne for a price of 45 silver which reminded her….

"Say Erhard."

"Yeah?"

"How does the currency work here? I know there's silver but are there any others such as gold or copper for example.

"Yeah it's exactly as you guessed, there copper which is the most basic currency, then there's silver which is worth 100 copper, and gold which in turn is worth 100 silver."

"That's simple enough to understand."

Naofumi smiled at this "I probably should have guessed as much."

"Well now you know and make sure you don't forget less you want to be ripped off in the future." Erhard warned.

"We'll keep that in mind but there's something I want to try before we head out." Audrey held out her bow and willed it to become the currency bow which caused the legendary bow's form to change surprising everyone in the room.

"Woah I heard the legendary weapons from legend had special powers that no normal no normal weapon did but I'd never imagined they'd be able to change their appearance!" Erhard exclaimed.

"Can my shield do that to!?" Naofumi asked.

The original the bow was replaced with another one that had a more plain design in terms of appearance save for the yellow jewel the remained as well as a metallic box attached to the upper half.

Audrey eyed the box before she placed the remaining silver inside of it only for it to glow brightly before seemingly disappearing from existence momentarily worrying the bow hero until she saw a new notification.

**Currency bow: 410 silver / 300 gold**

Sighing in relief Audrey spoke. "It looks like I found that perfect way to store my money and ensure it can't be stolen."

"But didn't your bow basically just eat all your money?" Naofumi asked.

"That's what I thought at first before I got a notification saying that the currency bow was now holding the amount I gave it."

"Ok but are you at least able to get it back."

Audrey tried to imagine herself taking out five silver pieces before the coins manifested back into existence. "It looks like I can. Naofumi you should do the same thing with your silver. It'll be a good way to ensure you don't lose any of it or its stolen."

"Good point." With that Naofumi willed his weapon to its currency form and stored his silver in it.

"With that out of the way let's head out." Audrey announced heading for the door with Naofumi and Myne following close behind.

"So Myne which way's the front gate?"

"Th-this way." Myne answer her voice losing much of its previous enthusiasm which didn't go unnoticed by Noafumi.

"Is something wrong Myne?"

"Oh no shield hero. Let us head out to the fields." With that Myne began leading the two heroes to the front gaye not giving Naofumi the chance to speak any further.

Audrey figured from the change in her demeanor Myne wasn't the least bit happy with how things played out back at the weapons shop with her not being able to trick Naofumi into getting the high quality weapon the store had on hand.

While Audrey was glad she was able to put a stop to that scheme she had a strong feeling the Myne was planning other things but what there was nothing Audrey could do at the moment.

Naofumi believed that Myne was his honest ally which meant without being able to expose her true colors Audrey likely wouldn't be able to convince Naofumi of the truth and to make matters worse even if she somehow could that would mean Naofumi would left with no party members.

Essentially while Audrey might be able to undermine little schemes here and there as long as she was around to do so thanks to the cons of their weapons Audrey would have have to separate from Naofumi meaning he'd be alone with Myne which gave her the chance to try other things meaning Audrey was left in a bind when it came to protecting Naofumi. In the end all she could do was hope nothing happened during the time they were away from each other in order to level up and strengthen their respective weapons.

'I'm sorry I can't do more you Naofumi.' Audrey thought grimly. She had shared all the information she had with him and did all she could to ensure he wasn't taken advantage of thus far.

Soon the trio reached the front gate were Audrey's party members. As they got closer the bow hero spotted a brief scowl on Armor's face but she simply ignored it and turned to Naofumi.

"See you later."

"Yeah let's meet up at the inn once we're done today."

With that both parties went their separate ways.

"Are you ready to head out mistress Audrey?" Armor asked whilst the other wore enthusiastic smiled that showed false sincerity.

It took all the bow hero's effort not to visibly show her annoyance. It seemed her current party members were going out of their way they put on a show of sucking up to her if their referring to her as 'mistress' was any indication. 'great Naofumi's got a liar on his team while I got a crowd of pretend boot lickers.'

"Yeah let's go out and do some leveling." Audrey replied. As much as it disgusted her she'd simply have to settle for these people or fight alone which she wasn't sure if she could do.

'Patricia would you do if you were here.'

As the group made their out into the fields just outside of the capital they soon caught sight of numerous orange sphere shaped creatures with sharp jagged teeth.

As she scrutinized the creature in question the basic information about it was displayed.

**Balloon level 1**

If its level was of any indication it was definitely a basic monster. With that being the case these balloons were an appropriate monster to start with when it came to leveling up.

Since the bow didn't come with any type of quiver Audrey was placing her hopes on an unlikely possibility since the legendary had special abilities.

Pulling back the string her hope came true when an arrow manifested into existence in her fingers.

Quickly taking aim Audrey let the arrow loose and it flew toward one of the balloons puncturing its body before it popped leaving behind an orange scrape.

As soon as the balloon was no more Audrey received a new notification.

**Exp 2**

"Amazing she hit it on her very first shot!" One of the members of her party exclaimed dramatically.

"Who knew our mistress had such skill with a bow." Another said.

"It seems we were right to choose to serve her." Armor declared.

Audrey shrugged not bothering to respond to the fake praise. "Be ready, we have more coming our way." With that the bow hero released another arrow taking out another balloon that was heading towards the group.

"Of course you can count on us!" Armor declared running out in front while the other stayed behind him.

'At least they can tell what formation is best.' Audrey thought before Armor took off with the other two in two.

"We must assist our mistress in this endeavor!" Armor yelled out as he and the other two members preceded to just attack whatever balloon was nearest to them with no real form of coordination to speak of.

'Or not.' Audrey sighed as she proceeded to shoot whatever balloons her allies missed which was actually more than she would have expected making her question their level of competency.

On the bright side, thanks to their and her efforts she was steadily gaining experience points and before long a new notification appeared.

**Audrey Alethea level 2**

**Weapon: legendary bow "locked"**

**Equipment: leather armor: defense up (very small)**

**Hp: 161/161**

**Sp 64/64**

**Str: 17**

**Def: 9**

**Agi: 28**

**Dex: 21**

**Skills: none**

Now that she got her first level up and all the balloons within the immediate vicinity were disposed Audrey decided it would be a good time to gather the materials left behind.

One of her party members took notice of Audrey as she began picking up the various scraps left behind from the balloons. "Mistress Audrey what are you doing?"

"Gathering the materials left behind they can strengthen my bow and I have a hunch I can sell them."

"It's true you can sell them but they're not worth much, besides you've already been provided funds by his majesty."

"Yeah but that won't last forever so it's best I make whatever extra money where I can." Audrey replied as she picked up the last scrap.

Once her task was done she proceeded to initially feed one of the scraps to her bow.

**Balloon bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: agi + 2 atk + 1**

**Equip bonus: none**

**Skill: none**

With a new bow unlocked Audrey dropped the rest of the scraps in the jewel but with a different intention in mind.

Opening her menu Audrey pulled up her item inventory and saw the scraps were indeed there.

"Alright let's move on." Audrey said looking for another cluster of monsters. After a few minutes the group found another group of balloons and afterwords Audrey once again collected the materials left behind by the monsters and the group moved on once more resulting in a cycle where'd they find a group of balloons, take them out to gather experience, Audrey would gather the scraps left behind and repeat.

The cycle continued until Audrey reached level 4 and decided she wanted to look for monsters that were a little stronger.

In response her party member brought to an area with a new egg like monster simply dubbed am "egg" which the blonde hero wasted in dispatching of. Once that was taken care of she used her bow to absorb to corpse in its entirety (mainly because she didn't touch the awful smelling yoke.) And unlocked two more bows.

**Egg shell bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: cooking + 1 dex + 1**

**Equip bonus: none**

**Skill: none**

**Egg yoke bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: cooking + 3 **

**Equip bonus: none**

**Skill: none**

Audrey was off put by the fact cooking could even be apart of the stat bonus since she wasn't exactly sure when she would ever use it but the two bows to help her realize that the bows she unlocked contributed to more than just her base stats which was a plus since it revealed more about how the world worked though she would prefer that if the bows were going to increase miscellaneous stats she'd appreciate if it was something that help with her quest.

Still since she had no way to predict what bow contributed to what type of stats the situation couldn't be helped. 'I guess it's just all the more to unlock all the bows I can?'

Glancing at the sky the university student turned hero saw the sun was starting to set meaning it was best that she got back to the capital soon but she wanted to gain at least one more level before she was done farming.

She was about to inquire to her party member about a new monster they might be able to face when rustling was heard from the nearby bushes.

Audrey's first instinct would have been to shoot whatever it was but the source of the rustling was faster to react as rather ferocious looking rabbit like monster suddenly leapt out of the bushes straight towards Armor who tried to swipe at the rabbit which easily dodged his attack and leaped at his face using its claws to leave a few gashes across Armor's face which resulting in him laying on the group holding his face while letting out a muffled scream of pain.

Meanwhile Audrey finally was able to obtain the monster's basic info.

**"Viscous rabbit." Level 9**

Audrey tensed up a bit. She was currently level 4 whereas all her allies were level 2 or 3 meaning the monster the were facing had the advantage in terms of levels, granted it wasn't a terribly massive gap at least not for Audrey herself it wasn't something to brush off either.

Quickly ready an arrow Audrey shot at The viscous rabbit which leapt out of the way before another of Audrey's allies tried to take the chance to attack the vicious rabbit.

Their attack landed unlike Armor's but it didn't do any considerable damaged and the vicious rabbit retaliated via leaping into and biting their leg causing Audrey's party member to scream out in pain as they lost a chunk of it and were left laying on the group.

Her only remaining ally was just as reckless as the first blindly running at the vicious rabbit. "No wait!" Audrey tried to call out only for her last ally to ignore her and continue making a mad dash for the party's current opponent.

The vicious rabbit in turn ran after the last party member before leaping into likely to do some damage to the last party member's face, luckily for the ally in question Audrey was quick to act and let loose an arrow which lodged itself in the vicious rabbit's side since it was in no position to dodge since it was in the air sending flying in flying away from her remaining ally but otherwise not doing an adequate amount of damage.

"Don't be reckless!" Audrey yelled to her only ally who wasn't injured.

"Ri-right." The ally replied. It was clear they were now rather nervous likely because of how close they came to having their face mulled.

"Try to get its attention. Once you do that I shoot again when it tries to attack you."

"Go-...got it." The remaining party member rather then running after they extended out their palm.

"I who have deciphered the laws of nature, burn my foe to ash. **Fireball!**"

A sphere of fire flew from the party member"s hand in the direction of the vicious rabbit which once again dodged by leaping to the side before making a beeline towards the party member.

Audrey who had another arrow at the ready steadied her aim and waited for the vicious rabbit to leap.

Once it was close enough the vicious rabbit as Audrey expected it to indeed leapt into the air towards her party member's face but Audrey was ready and launch another arrow at it.

Once again the vicious rabbit ended up with an arrow in its body that sent it sailing off to the side but much to Audrey's frustration it didn't do much damage.

At the rate things were going the fight was going to drag on for some time. It didn't help matters when her remaining ally decided to become reckless once more likely believing the vicious rabbit was done for.

"Don't!" Audrey yelled out but her remaining ally didn't head her being caught up in wanting to deliver the killing blow. The party member received a shock when the vicious leapt at them once they got close enough and bit into their side.

Audrey fire off another arrow which became lodged in the vicious rabbit"s side along with the first two.

The vicious rabbit let go of her remaining ally who fell to their knees while the vicious rabbit turned its attention to Audrey herself and began running after her.

Audrey readied another arrow as the vicious rabbit came closer waiting for it the leap. When the rabbit got close enough and leapt and Audrey responded vai shooting her arrow it the vicious rabbit's back which diverted its course for her face. Unfortunately it managed latch on her right upper arm.

Audrey's stomach felt like it turned to ice as she watched this unfold. The bow hero soon received a grim reminder of the fact that the world she was in was real when the vicious rabbit utilized its claws and teeth and sunk them into Audrey's arm piercing cloth, skin, and muscle drawing a visible amount of blood prompting the bow hero to scream out in pain.

In spite of the immense pain she was in Audrey knew that she couldn't allow herself to become overwhelmed by the said pain like her allies had since it would mean certain death.

Mustering up all her willpower she grabbed the vicious rabbit by the nape of its neck with her other hand and tore it from her arm before tossing it some distance away from her.

Upon landing on the ground the vicious rabbit turned to Audrey and charged full speed at her

Audrey grit her teeth bearing the pain from her wound as she readied another arrow. This time when the vicious leapt for her face she used her bow to parry the vicious rabbits attack sending it off to the side before letting the arrow loose as it landed on the ground.

Utilizing its agility the vicious rabbit managed to avoid the arrow as well as turn around and make another leap at Audrey who responded via utilizing her own speed to pivot her body to the side while crouching and readying another arrow all at the same time.

As a result the vicious rabbit was left soaring through the air at nothing whilst Audrey set herself up for a shot at its underbelly which she took. Once the arrow pierced it underside the vicious rabbit was sent flying several meters into the air whilst Audrey took time to further collect herself.

As the monster writhed around ground pulling the arrow from its underside Audrey glance at its health bar and saw that almost half of it was drained. While the sight showed she was making progress Audrey needed to speed up the process. With her injury and downed allies she really could not afford to drag this fight out much longer but the problem with that was her current attack power only went so far, she had no skills she could utilize, and her currency and balloon bows were no stronger than the default version then Audrey's eyes widened as she remembered the other bow her quarter allowed her to unlock and more so to the point its equip effect.

If the situation wasn't so dire and her arm wasn't bleeding Audrey would have face palmed at her own forgetfulness. Willing she bow to change forms and soon her original was replaced by one that was made stainless silver that easily reflected light from the setting sun.

The viscous rabbit was running at Audrey once more while she simply readied another arrow and calmly aimed at the approaching monster.

Audrey leveled the point of her arrow at a certain spot on the vicious rabbit's body rather this time rather than simply just aiming at it in general. 'Let's see if we can't end this with one blow.' The bow thought as the Vicious rabbit got within leaping arrange.

It utilized its usual tactic of making a jump of its opponent's face whilst Audrey just kept her arrow lined up with the spot she wanted to hit. 'Gotcha.' She let loose her arrow which lodged itself in the vicious rabbit's head right between its eyes not only stopping its the monster dead in its tracks but sending flying backwards and skidding across the grass when it landed.

This time the vicious rabbit wasn't moving at all and before Audrey could glance at its health bar a notification came up indirectly confirming what she had hoped for.

**55 exp **

Along with the experience points Audrey had also reached level 5. Looking around saw Armor and one of her other members finally getting up. The member with the injury to their leg was still laying on the ground, Audrey figure she would go help them out in a moment after she collected the materials from the vicious rabbit's corpse.

"Mistress Audrey you saved us, we are truly blessed to have the honor of following you." Armor announced.

"I knew you worthy of your title, truly you are the greatest of the cardinal heroes." Her other ally who was standing said.

Audrey could only sigh upon hearing more fake praise. "Right. Anyway were done for today, I'm gonna have my bow absorb this monsters corpse."

Audrey walked to the vicious rabbit's corpse and removed the arrows still stuck in it before attempting to have her bow swallow the entire thing whole however instead of doing what she had hoped for the bow's jewel only absorbed a small patch of fur from the corpse drawing another sigh from the bow hero. 'I was afraid of this.'

**Rabbit fur bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: freezing resistance + 4 Agi + 3**

Back when she had the chance to skim over any information she could find in her menu and discovered that some monsters could unlock various versions of her weapon via absorbing various parts such as fur, skin, muscle, bones and so on.

She had hoped that she could obtain all the bows the vicious rabbit had to offer in one go but it looked like she'd have to separate the parts via stripping down the corpse meaning she'd have to buy the tools to do so.

`I guess I'll have to take the Erhard about it.'

Picking up the vicious rabbit corpse with one hand she walked over to her ally with the leg injury and helped them up before wrapping their arm around her shoulder with her free hand.

"Let's head back."

**XXXXX**

Once everyone got back Audrey told Armor and her other two party members to get their wounds treated and that she would meet them at the inn. They asked if Audrey was sure of her decision not to go with them to get her own injury treated in response she told them she needed to find someone to strip down the vicious rabbit's corpse so she could absorb the other parts aside from the fur and strengthen her weapon further.

Her party members accepted the explanation and left leaving Audrey on her own to head to the only person she could think of to ask for help. Hopefully his shop was still open. It was getting darker outside but the sun wasn't down just yet so the bow hero doubted the person she intended to go to for help was asleep.

On the way there she got numerous looks of worry and confusion which she couldn't blame them for after all the sight of a young woman with a bleeding arm carrying the monster was not something one would normally see bit at the moment it couldn't be helped. Right now the blond hero's priority was to assure that she could get the maximum amount of spoils from her kill.

It didn't take long for her to reach her intended destination which was none other then Erhard's shop which was luckily looked to still be open judging by a customer entering it.

Audrey immediately entered the store and saw the customer speaking to Erhard. "I apologize for the last minute arrival but I wanted to buy a weapon to defend myself from monsters with the waves going on and all."

Erhand simply "Understandable, basic weapons are on that rack over there."

"Thank you." The customer went to where they were directed while Erhard turned his attention to the bow hero.

"Welc-Audrey?...what happened to you!?"

"Me and my party ran into unexpected monster that was a few levels higher than us had the following fight turned into something of an ordeal.

"Were you at least able to defeat it?"

"Yeah, pretty much got the thing's body right here."

"Is there a reason you brought it into my shop of all places?"

"Yeah, I need to strip the body of its skin, muscle and bones so I can let my weapon absorb it and grow stronger and I couldn't think of anyone else to ask for help."

"I see. What about the fur?"

"That's the one thing my bow did take without the body being stripped." Audrey showed Erhard to patch of exposed skin.

"Alright. Lucky for you I was an adventurer myself in the past so I picked up on a few survival skills so I can help you. But in the future you might want to get the tools to do it yourself. It'll be easier then coming back here for it."

"I'll purchase some tomorrow."

"Good, anyway I can have the thing properly stripped by tomorrow as well as sell you the tools you need to do it yourself on the road.

"Thank you and one more thing."

"Shoot."

"Could you cut off an extra portion of each layer."

"Yeah but what do need it for?"

"To give to Naofumi to help him strengthen his weapon."

"Looking for your fellow hero are you?"

"That's the sum of it."

"Make sense but on another note you really need to get the injury treated. it won't do anyone good if one of the four holy heroes fell in battle."

"Fair even though I'll have to look into getting something for it tomorrow since all the shops are closing up."

"You're not wrong there, give me a minute to take care of this last minute customer and I'll bandage the wound up."

"Ok."

As instructed Audrey waited as the last minute customer bought a basic spear and left the store leaving Erhard and Audrey alone. The former stated that he had to go grab the items he needed and headed into the back of the store for a minute before he returned with a wet rag and bandage.

"Alright lift up your sleeve."

Audrey did as she was instructed and Erhard preceded to wipe all the excess blood off of her arm. "While I admire your enthusiasm for making sure you get the most out of your kills you need to prioritize your wellbeing a bit more, next time you get injured head to the nearest apothecary shop to get herbs or medicine to treat it before anything else, spoils aren't worth dying for."

"I will."

"Good I'll be holding you to it." Erhard replied whilst trying the bandage to the bow hero's arm. "Alright I patched you up to the best of my ability now head off to the inn to get some rest and you can leave your kill here, I'll have stripped when you come back."

"Alright and thank you again." Audrey replied leaving the vicious rabbit corpse behind and leaving.

With all her business out of the way she began heading to the town inn to retire for the night. Once she reached her latest destination Audrey withdrew 20 silver coins from her currency bow before entering.

"Weclome." The man at the front desk called smiling warmly at Audrey. "Will you be staying here tonight?"

"Yes, how much for a single night?"

"5 silver."

Audrey paid the amount needed.

"Alright your room is upstairs it's the third door on the right."

"Thank you." Audrey turned to scrutinize the lobby area and saw the respective parties of Motoyasu and Ren both of which she ignored intending to simply head straight to her room until she saw someone she actually cared to see, the shield hero Naofumi who turned to her and waved her over.

Heading over to Noafumi's table Audrey sat across from her fellow hero. "So Naofumi how'd your first day fighting go?"

"Well I managed to gain a level and unlock two shields."

"Wait you mean you only got to level two?"

Naofumi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "When I started fighting monsters I found out I was the definition of a walking tank thanks to my defense, I didn't even feel it whenever a balloon bit me but….."

"But?" Audrey mimicked prompting Naofumi to continue.

"My lack of attack power basically got in the way of my ability to kill monsters. I had to punch every balloon I encountered like thirty times before they finally died."

"Why didn't you have Myne deal with them for you?"

"I have to take them out myself if I want to get experience points."

"Naofumi you can send other people a party invite and have them accept once that's done you and your party member will share experience for any monsters killed by either of you. If you had done that you could have had Myne handle killing the monsters and accumulated experience points a lot faster while you handle defense when needed."

Naofumi's eyes widened. "You mean I could have done that the whole time?!"

"Yes, make sure you do that in the future, the last thing we need is you falling behind."

"I...see your point I'll make sure to utilize the party invite tomorrow and make up for the time I lost."

"Good make sure you do."

"Anyway what about you?"

"Well I got off to a decent enough start killing balloons and unlocked the balloon bow and later the egg shell and yoke bows getting up to level 4 in the process."

"Sounds like you had a better time than I did."

"I'm better equipped to kill monsters directly but I actually had my own set back later on if the stain on my sleeve is anything to go by."

"Are you saying that came from your blood!?"

"Yeah I had a run in with a level nine monster that ambushed my party out of the blue and thanks to my lack of defense towards the end of the fight it managed to tear into my arm and do a number on it."

Naofumi upon hearing this was about to give the obvious reply when one of the other heroes beaten him to it.

"Audrey are you ok?!" An obnoxious Motoyasu all but yelled out dramatically before running over to Audrey and grabbing her hand.

"Are you still injured, do you need you wound treated, do you need a healing potion?"

Audrey's eye was now twitching in sheer annoyance at Motoyasu's flamboyant tendencies. Why couldn't he realize that she wasn't interested? The idea of performing an encore with what happened with the asshole from her highschool days was becoming very tempting.

"No treatment for the wound has already been taken care of." Audrey replied pulling her hand free.

"You're really alright?"

"Yes." Audrey quickly answered hoping that would be the end of the spear hero's antic's but much to her further annoyance it wasn't.

"Oh Audrey someone as beautiful as you shouldn't have to risk your life fighting monsters. Let me take care of them so you won't get hurt."

"Yeah I think I'm gonna have to decline your offer."

"But surely you don't want to be hurt again."

"Maybe but I can take care of myself. Now stop making a scene your drawing a lot of unwanted attention to both of us that I really don't want."

Motoyasu looked around the room and saw that indeed everyone present was looking at them.

Laughing a bit in embarrassment Motoyasu finally backed off and went back to his own party's table.

Both the shield and bow heroes thought that would but the sword hero Ren decided to shoot off his own remark.

"You seriously allowed yourself to be hurt by a low level monster? You're probably even worse off than Naofumi with how weak you are."

"Keep your mouth shut." Audrey shot back. It was starting to feel like whenever there was any type of interaction where Ren was involved with her, Naofumi, or anyone for that matter his deluded sense of self superiority managed to rear its ugly face. Seriously just how did the sword hero ego go?

Turning her attention back to Naofumi Audrey smiled. "So what do you plan on doing the rest of the night?"

"Honestly. I'm just gonna retire for the night."

"Same here."

"You sure?"

"I promised that I'd meet up with my teammates here but from the looks of it, none of them are here."

"You don't seem too concerned about that."

"If I'm being honest with myself I'm not particularly attached to them."

"Well you did only just meet them. One day isn't really enough time to grow close to most people, still I'm sure your teammates are good people at heart that want to help you."

Audrey had to suppress a sigh. She appreciated Naofumi's optimistic behavior but his deduction was far from the actual truth. If the bow hero's members were actually good people they weren't doing a very swell job of proving it and when it came to wanting to help from all the interactions Audrey had with them she knew at this point that her members were more concerned with gaining her favor if their false over the top praises for her were any type of hint or just trying to manipulate her if Armor's attempt at trying to dissuade her from going to the weapons shop with Naofumi was any suggestion.

"Maybe but I have my doubts for... personal reasons."

"If you say so."

Before Audrey could reply another spoke up. "Shield hero I thought we could enjoy a drink together." Both heroes turned to see Myne walking towards them who in turn glanced at the bow hero in surprised. "Oh lady Audrey I didn't realize you were here."

"I only just showed up."

"I see." Myne glanced at the red stain on the sleeve of Audrey's tunic. "Oh my lady Audrey what happened?"

"Me and my party accidentally ran into a monster that was on a higher level than we were."

Audrey spotted a very brief smirk on Myne face before the red haired adventurer replied.

"I'm glad you came safely lady Audrey."

'Like hell you are.' The bow hero though before switching subjects. "Say there's something I wanted to ask you about."

"Ok I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"Did you know there's a party invite system that the heroes can use so that we and our companions can share accumulated experience points regardless of who kills the monster?"

Myne stared at Audey in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before she finally worked up the nerve to respond. "No lady Audrey this is actually the first I've heard of it. Will it help us in some way?"

"Yes I already told Naofumi this so now I'll tell you the same thing, party system will help you both level up faster using the right method, in short once you pair up using it you can killing the monsters while Noafumi keeps you safe by handling the defense."

"Are you certain that will work? It'll mean I have to do all the fighting." Myne said trying to go against Audrey's logic

"Once you two find more members to help you. It'll ease the burden until then you'll have to bear with it; having Noafumi punch individual balloons thirty plus times is going to get you nowhere."

"Ri-right we'll be sure to do that tomorrow." With that Myne turned her attention to Naofumi.

"Anyway shield hero would you like to join me for I drink."

"Thanks but no thanks."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah me and Audrey were both about to retire for the night."

"Oh, in that case I'll see you tomorrow morning shield hero."

"See you then" Once Naofumi was done speaking with his teammate he and Audrey both stood up and began heading upstairs.

"Goodnight Naofumi."

"Night." The shield hero responded before heading to his room whilst Audrey went into hers.

Once inside Audrey preceded to remove her leather blazer and use her bow to store it within her item inventory.

Allowing herself to fall on the bed she felt herself begin to drift off to sleep. Whatever happened tomorrow she hoped things would play out better for her and Naofumi.

/

**And were at the end. Sorry that the whole BS trail thing didn't happen I decided to save it for the next ch for 2 reasons. First this chapter was supposed to be out by Christmas but the scenes kept turning out longer than I intended since I wanted them to be detailed for the quality of the story overall and if I put the trial scene in the ch would have taken another day or to get out, second is that the trial itself is going to have a bit more happen then in cannon due to Audrey's presence which brings me to one of the many points I wanted to cover with this chapter.**

**First aside from wanting to get to the point where the heroes start leveling and have Audrey unlock the first few bows and start leveling up I wanted to use this ch to show that unlike Ren, Itstuki (in cannon or fics where he's a part of the story, or Motoyasu especially she's not eating out of the palm of trash and bitch's hand at all she realizes that they have something against Naofumi and that the world itself is very real and that the party members she was provided don't actually care for her and that they're essentially just brownosing (as opposed to Itstuki's retarded ass who just basks in any praise he can get from anyone)**

**And in case anyone's wondering why I had Audrey go through something of a major fight so soon in the story it was to capture two things one was that all of Itsuki's or in this case Audrey's teammates are actually pretty incompetent which is captured in the original web novel and to give Audrey's use of the silver bow a bit of significance since its the very first bow she's unlocked that stonger than the default version thanks to its equip effect.**

**Also I know I'm probably making the relationship between Naofumi and Audrey feel a bit rushed but I needed to establish that even though she's only just met him, Audrey considers Naofumi her friend and truly cares for him for the sake of things that'll happen in the next ch "the extent of the bow hero's resolve"**


	3. Extent of the bow hero's resolve

**OK here's here's the third chapter of of unwavering heart, I'd like to thank everyone for your support.**

**I got a few people making suggestions on what I should do when it comes to companions for Audrey which I greatly appreciate but I already decided.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ROTSH**

* * *

Audrey felt herself slowly stir awake as the morning rays filled her room. Sitting up and stretching out for a moment she began contemplating what she was going to do for the day.

It didn't take much to come to a decision since what the best thing to do was straightforward, more leveling. Personally she was hoping that today she'd be able to obtain a skill, it would definitely be a relief to have another option available in battle especially if she had any unexpected run ins with a higher level opponent considering she wouldn't be able to rely on the teammates she was provided with. She would have preferred to end her partnership with them to look for new people she could rely on but the problem was that if she did decide to cut ties with them she'd be left on her own for a time at least until she could find others to help her which could take a short time or a long time and during that period she'd really have to be on her toes whenever she was leveling up or doing anything that would involve fighting monsters which was a scenario she wasn't sure she could bring herself to face.

After taking the next few minutes to take her boots and gear out of her bow's inventory and putting them on the bow hero figured she'd see Naofumi and remind him or more so to the point his teammate about the party system, she had a feeling if she didn't Myne would try to feign forgetting so she could just watch Naofumi futily try to personally fight monsters himself again.

Doing so ran the high risk of her eventually leaving his party which in turn would mean Naofumi would be alone but at least he would see Myne's true colors and Audrey would be able to help him find someone who would truly fight alongside him since Audrey couldn't truly support him as much as she would have liked to since would slow down both of their progression.

Before the bow hero could leave her room she suddenly heard her fellow hero scream out from within his own room. "Where's all my stuff? Did someone seriously rob me?!"

Upon Audrey swiftly exited her room and was about to go head to the shield hero's room before the hero in question bolted out of his own wearing little more than an undershirt and thermos.

"Audrey did you see who stole my stuff? If you saw or heard anything tell me please!" The shield hero pleaded frantically.

"Naofumi you need to slow down for a moment and tell me everything from the beginning and get yourself dressed."

"I can't someone took my gear and clothes while I was asleep last night."

Audrey's eyes widened at the explanation before she realized who was very likely responsible. 'I knew she was going to try something but I didn't think she'd do anything that would be grounds have her labeled a criminal.'

"Have you seen your teammate? she might have seen something." Audrey highly doubted Myne would help them considering she was very likely to be the thief but looking for her would provide Naofumi with a chance to get his stuff back before it was all gone for good after that she'd definitely help him find someone who would truly help him.

"Oh yeah she may seen something!" Naofumi went to the room directly on the opposite from his own and frantically knocked on the door to the room. "Myne are you there? Somebody's stolen my gear!"

"Shield hero!"

Both heroes to towards the end of the hall and saw a group of around six guards glaring at Naofumi who didn't seem to take notice and immediately tried his hand at getting their help.

"Thank goodness you're here, someone's stolen-arrghh."

Naofumi's speech was cut short when one of the guards violently shoved the pummel of their pike into his gut. Of course thanks to his high defense the attack only took him by surprise causing him to stumble back a step rather than doubling over and falling to the ground like the guard likely intended.

Before either hero could process what had just occurred due to the sheer amount of shock it brought on two of the guards seized Naofumi by each of his arms and began dragging him away. "You're under arrest."

Finally coming out of her own stuper Audrey felt a major sense of outrage well up before she tried to storm after the pair of guards taking Naofumi away before the rest blocked her path with two of them crossing their pikes in an X formation. "What are you guys doing? Let Naofumi go!" She yelled out.

One of the guards simply smirked at her before replying. "The shield hero's been arrested and is being brought to the castle to stand trial for his crime."

Audrey stared at the guard in utter disbelief. "Are you serious, what crime could Naofumi possibly have committed? He's only been here two days!"

"You'll see when we arrive at the castle."

"We?"

"His majesty has requested the presence of all the other heroes."

"Fine."

With that Audrey was escorted to the castle by the remaining guards "Be prepared you will probably be appalled when you find out what type of man your fellow hero really is." The same guard has before said before adding "And come to your senses." Under his breath.

Audrey didn't bother replying, in her mind she was trying to figure just what was going on. What crime could Naofumi have possibly committed? He had been with her all throughout the previous day until they both went out to beginning farming experience points so there was no way he could have done anything nefarious without her being able to witness it and even afterwards he only thing he could have done was something against Myne and that was a scenario that Audrey highly doubted since when she saw the two at the inn the latter looked perfectly fine in fact the more Audrey thought about it more the idea appeared to be downright impossible.

It was not long until they arrived at the castle and from there the throne room into time see Naofumi who was now being forced to his knees try to plea to the king.

"There's been a misunderstanding I've been ro-"

"SILENCE YOU FILTH!" Aultcray roared cutting off a confused Naofumi.

Audrey scrutinized everyone in the room seeing that like the first time the four heroes were brought here was filled with members of the nobility who had previously sent briefly glance of resentment at Naofumi, now they were glaring at him in plain disgust.

Also amongst the crowd was Ren who was also glaring at Naofumi along with his party who all looked oddly conflicted about the matter and next to them was Audrey's own party who were all smiling smugly at what was taking place Audrey turned her gaze elsewhere and saw Motoyasu standing beside the king with a look of pure hatred directed at Naofumi.

"I knew you were scum from the moment you were first brought here before me with the other heroes." The king continued.

Audrey's eyes widened, she already knew the king didn't think highly of Naofumi but if 9 was going to jump to the conclusion that Naofumi was guilty without even giving him a chance to defend himself or even tell his side of the story of whatever his supposed crime was then what was the point of this trial?

Naofumi could only stare on in disbelief at what was happening and it wasn't much different for Audrey, while she was worried thanks to most had happened concerning Naofumi up until now but she didn't think things would escalate this far.

"Myne?!" Naofumi suddenly called out.

Audrey was confused before hearing Myne scream out ir fear. "Stay away!"

The bow hero saw Naofumi's teammate standing behind Motoyasu cowering.

"Myne why are you…." Naofumi tried to say before the spear hero forward.

"Keep your mouth shut you scum, you're lucky I didn't run you through last night."

"What?!"

"Myne came to me and told what you tried to do to her last night!"

Last night? Did Naofumi really try something against Myne last night? Audrey wondered.

The king turned his gaze turned his gaze towards Myne. "Ms Sophia could you explain what happened?"

"Last night the shield hero came into my room drunk saying the night was still young and tried to force himself on me, I barely escaped and went to lord Motoyasu for help!"

Upon hearing Naofumi was too shocked to process everything that was happening to him, he woke up this morning to find his gear and clothes stolen and now he was being accused of trying to rape his teammate while being drunk?

Audrey was in utter disbelief, Myne was seriously trying to make a claim like this? It was immediately apparent that she was lying since there were two major holes in her story.

"But I never did anything like th-!" Naofumi stopped in mid sentence and went silent for a few long moments as he finally realized what was truly going on which was only confirmed when both he and Audrey saw Myne stuck her tongue out at him.

Audrey glanced at the King to see if he saw it but instead saw something that caused her outrage to peek. The king was smiling at the entire thing before he went back to wearing a look of resentment. Why didn't she realize it sooner this entire trial was nothing but a set up for the sake of wrongfully persecuting Naofumi.

Naofumi's expression to one rage as he stood up forcefully, he would have probably ran after Myne if the guards hadn't used their pikes to block him. "You traitorous bitch, you set me up!"

Motoyasu stepped in front of Myne. "Haven't you done enough to her already?!"

While watching all of this unfold Audrey felt herself remember her high school days when that asshole from back then tried to come on to her with false compliments and ridiculous lines about how much of a good time he could show her.

Unlike numerous other girls who bought all of his BS Audrey knew better, the asshole just wanted her for an occasional sex toy until he either simply got board or found someone more appealing to take up his attention so ot was a given that Audrey rejected his advances.

But of course because of the being at the high end of the social hierarchy he was too arrogant to accept that he was rejection and tried to insist that Audrey reconsider even going as far as to forcefully grab her prompting her to give a bloody lip finally getting the guy to finally back off.

Audrey thought that was the end of it but the asshole decided to lie to the girls that were head over heels for him about what happened and as a result Audrey found herself being assaulted by multiple fangirls the next day until her best friend Patrica stepped in and defended her.

Afterwards Audrey's reputation at school plummeted and she had next to no friends and neither did Patrica from that time on but the latter didn't care, she never once regretted her decision in doing the right thing instead of simply doing what appealed to the masses in spite of what it had cost her.

Since that day, Audrey had always looked up to Patricia as something of an idol for her strong sense of justice.

'Patricia what would you do in this situation?' Audrey thought to herself though deep down she already knew the answer. Her best friend would do the same for Naofumi that she did for Audrey back then but could Audrey bring herself to do the same?

What was happening right now pissed her off to no end. That piece of shit Myne had back stabbed Naofumi in the back on an astronomical level and the King was in on it as well and likely many others but did she really have the resolve to do the right thing?

If she did then she'd likely lose the party members provided by the King and likely all other support meaning she'd have to get by on her own.

It was then the bow hero remembered the conversation she had with Naofumi the first night.

"Fair enough, but I still think you have a lot more worth than your parents believe."

"You really mean that?"

"Yeah, there aren't a lot of people like you and Patrica who are willing to go out of their way to help others even when it either cost them something or their own situation is already bad, that's why I can say without a single that you guys show the best parts of what people are truly capable of being. Honestly I hope that I get a chance to lend someone my support when they need it the most."

That's right since the time when Patrica stuck by Audrey during the lowest point of her life Audrey didn't just admire her the bow hero wanted to be like her, to do the same for someone else as Patrica had done for her or Naofumi had done for his brother.

'Naofumi you said I might have my chance to standby someone when they really needed it the most, it looks like your were right.'

Audrey steeled herself. 'I might lose my support from the crown but I'd rather have to deal with that than live with being scum who abandons their friends just to save their own skin. I'd never be able to forgive myself.'

"Just how far are you all going to go with the fake trial for the sake of fucking over Naofumi, how far?!" Audrey roared out gaining everyone's attention and leaving Naofumi in a mixture of shock and appreciation that someone was actually on his side.

"Au-Audrey you can't seriously believe that Naofumi is innocent." Motoyasu tried to protest.

"Yeah I do."

"But he's nothing but a rapist!"

"Says the son of a bitch who's exploiting this whole thing to steal armor."

"How am I stealing armor?"

Audrey narrowed her eyes. "You're fucking wearing chainmail that was stolen from Naofumi."

"No Myne brought this to me as a gift."

"Riiiight." Audrey said sarcastically. It was painfully evident that Motoyasu had no intention of returning it.

"Lady Audrey please! We have evidence of the shield hero's guilt." The king tried to plead.

It was then that a guard walked next to the king and pulled out a torn nightgown. "This was found in the shield hero's room." The guard reported.

Naofumi glanced back towards Audrey in fear that she would become convinced that he had indeed tried to rape Myne.

"See? Naofumi's nothing but a degenerate who sees woman has nothing but playthings for him to use whenever he wants!" Motoyasu pleaded hoping to sway Audrey but the only change in her demeanor was her eyes narrowing.

"I'm pretty sure that far better describes you, especially since you said you were going to get all the cuties when we first came here. So how about you quit putting up your little heroic facade since the only thing your damn ass is concerned is emptying your sperm supply inside every loose hole in sight, if anyone's a degenerate who sees women as nothing but playthings it's you." She shot back stunning the spear into silence.

The day before a part of Audrey had thought that she was being harsh in her assessment of the spear hero with how she almost immediately grew to dislike him practically upon meeting him but now that wasn't the case, the more he talked the more he reminded her of the asshole who all but ruined a portion of her life, both of them were perverted, arrogant, and manipulative though in the former's case she could add the title of thief to the list.

She then turned to the King. "It was a nice try with the fabricated evidence but there was one mistake you made."

Naofumi looked at Audrey in relief and hope that she could prove his innocence to everyone whilst Audrey continued.

"Myne said that the shield hero tried to assault her in her room right?"

"Yes of course but how could you possibly think that would make the gown being found in the shie-" Aultcray stopped in mid sentence realizing what Audrey was getting at.

"If Naofumi came into her room than shouldn't the night gown also been found there?"

Both the King and Myne looked like they were trying to come up with some BS explanation but Audrey didn't feel like giving them the chance

"And there's two more major flaws with Naofumi's supposed crime."

"Ho-how? The shield hero was drunk and tried to force himself on me!" Myne tried to protest

"And that brings to the first one. If Naofumi was actually drunk last night his words would be slurred but he's alert and he'd likely have the symptoms of a hangover which he's not showing any sign of, plus the only chance he would have ever had to drink anything alcoholic was when you offered him one which I personally saw him turn down since I was sitting at the table with the two of you."

At this point Ren looked more unsure about who to believe and a few members of the crowd were whispering amongst themselves.

"And finally if such a thing did happen there would have been a struggle leading to enough noise being made to wake up anyone who was staying in nearby rooms including the one Myself. I would have heard the commotion as it was taking place."

"ENOUGH!" the King suddenly roared at Audrey in anger looking down at her with a look of contempt.

"Are you seriously going to continue insisting that Naofumi's guilty even now?"

"It is already decided."

"In that case send us both back to our own worlds. If you're going to take this false trial this far than there's no reason for either of us to stay here, Naofumi hasn't done anything to deserve this and I have no intent of going along with your schemes."

The King sighed before replying. "As much as it would delight me to send that rapist back and get rid of him we cannot return any of you to your world until the waves are stopped and we cannot summon new heroes unless all of the current ones die."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm seriously supposed fight for your shitty kingdom after you did this to me?"

"Of course, you may be a lowly criminal but you're still one of the heroes."

"We seriously have to fight alongside that scumbag?" Motoyasu muttered earning a snarl from Audrey whilst the king continued.

"You should consider yourself fortunate shield hero since your status prevents me from putting your to the guillotine but do not think you'll escape punishment word has spread of your deed, everyone will know the filth you are."

Aultcray then turned to Audrey. "And as for you, should you insist on defending this criminal I'll have no choice but to ask your companions to reconsider their choice in joining you on your quest and withdraw any support for you in your duty to fight the waves.

"Think this through lady Audrey, your a great hero but we can't follow you if you're going to side with a criminal." Armor said from the crowd.

"I have thought it through and my decision still stands. If you're going to leave then I won't stop you."

The king's eyes narrowed. "You're certain you want to endeavor down this foolish path even knowing the consequences?"

"Yeah, you might have the spear and sword eating out of the palm of your hand but I have no intention of letting you manipulate me."

"So be it."

"Good, now then if you're done with your little shit show." Audrey walked up to Naofumi grabbing his hand in her own and began leading him out of the throne before two guards tried to block her path prompting Audrey to turn around and glare at the King.

"You're both free to leave after the shield hero's funds have been sie-!"

In the span of under a single second Audrey had let go of Naofumi's hand, repositioned both of her own, summoned her bow from her back to her hands, and fired an arrow that lodged itself in the King's chair just inches from his head leaving him far too appalled to finish his sentence.

The entire room was silent as nobles, guards, and everyone within the crowd, and most of all the king himself had to take a few seconds that felt like an eternity to process had just happened.

Recovering from his shock the king turned to Audrey with a look of pure rage. "You dare threaten a member of the royal family?!"

"If you push this any further than yeah, you've already had his gear and clothes stolen, arranged for his reputation to be slandered so no one will want to join him; you're not taking his money to."

Aultcray grabbed both armrests of his chair. "I'll have you both executed!"

Audrey summoned another arrow and level it at the king. "Go ahead, I'll make sure we have you for company in the next life."

"You think you can fight your way past all my men?"

"I don't have to. I can simply have to you shoot right from where I'm standing before any of your guards have a chance to do anything."

The king snarled at the bow hero but it didn't faze her.

"It's just a matter of loosening my fingers, I missed on purpose last time so I can assure this next one will hit."

The king continued to growled as Audrey continued. "So this can go one of two ways, you can either let both of us go and that'll be that will be the end of all this nonsense or you can die with us. So what'll be? The choice is yours."

"I want you both out of my sight now!"

"Good." With that Audrey lowered her bow and put it back on her back before taking ahold of Naofumi's hand and began leading him out of the throne room once more, unfortunately one last annoyance just had to come up in the form of the increasingly infuriating spear hero.

"Wait Audrey, you don't have to do this, if you'd just see reason you'll realize that Naofumi isn't someone worth being thought of as a hero."

Audrey laughed confusing everyone around her until she turned facing Motoyasu with a look that expressed pure loathing. "You know the more you talk the more you remind me of someone back in my world who I really hated."

"Wh-what."

"You both have so much in common, you both think every woman is nothing than a potential sex partner and torment anyone you think is beneath you even going as far as to lie and twist the truth to make yourselves look like the good guys in a situation. The only person who's not worth being thought of as a hero is you, for the spear to choose someone like you is downright mind boggling."

With that Audrey left the throne room pulling Naofumi with her by his hand. Once the duo was gone everyone in the room began dispersing while a shell shocked Motoyasu just stared after the receding pair wondering what went wrong.

As far as the spear hero was concerned Naofumi was the villian, he tried to rape his own teammate and would surely do the same thing to Audrey, it was plain to see the kind of man he was.

So why was Audrey making Motoyasu out to be the bad guy when he was trying to protect her from someone who was a rapist, and how did the spear hero reminded her of someone she hated? Everything she described about the similarities between him and the guy she hated matched Naofumi much moreso than Motoyasu himself.

So why was she on Naofumi's side? Why was Audrey so intent on protecting him after what Naofumi had done?

Motoyasu was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a hand clasped his shoulder. He turned around to see Myne standing behind him.

"Spear hero I know this is sudden but I'd like to travel with you from this point on."

"Ok, I'll protect from any monsters along with the likes of Naofumi."

"I'll be counting on you to keep me safe."

XXXXX

Outside the castle Naofumi and Audrey were now walking through the streets of the capital whilst various people were shooting looking disgust at former whispering amongst themselves about how he was supposedly a rapist whilst others questioned why the latter was with the shield hero and why she didn't know better than to go anywhere near him.

The bow hero felt a ping of anger well up inside of her but restrained herself regardless and ignore what the people were saying.

"Let's head to weapons shop." Audrey suggested.

"What good will that do?" Naofumi asked

"I've got some materials I need to pick up from Erhard to unlock a few new bows and new shields for you."

"How can you be so sure Erhard will let me?"

"The materials belong to me, he doesn't get any say in whether or not you're allowed to use them."

"Alright but maybe I should stay out of sight when we arrive."

"I can't say I agree with you but if you fill the need….."

Once they reached their destination. Naofumi was looking for an ally to hide in until the duo discovered that the weapons shop owner was outside and rapidly walking towards them. Immediately Audrey became alert upon seeing this.

Erhard had an angry look in his eyes which was directed at the shield hero. Audrey already had an idea of why, it was all but a given considering what had happened earlier that day. Audrey was proven right in her internal guess when Erhard grabbed Naofumi by his shirt and hoisted him up.

"I heard about what you tried to do to your teammate." The blacksmith reared his fist back at the same time Audrey summoned her bow to her hands and manifested an arrow. "Let me punch you."

Audrey was a mere moment from taking aim and firing when she noticed Erhard hesitating. "So even you think I'm guilty." Naofumi shot back waiting for the blow. The punch however never came Naofumi soon found himself confused whilst Audrey let out a sigh of relief when Erhard let go of the shield hero.

"Weren't you going to punch me?!" Naofumi asked.

"I suddenly don't feel like and it looked like your fellow hero was about to attack me."

"Had you went through with punching him I'd have put an arrow in you in a heartbeat, you and the other people can buy into the king's story if you feel like it but I won't tolerate anyone hurting Naofumi." Audrey said.

"So you believe the shield kid's innocent?"

"I know for a fact he is."

Erhard simply sighed before glancing at Naofumi. "You can't be walking looking so indecent."

"That bitch stole my gear and clothes."

Erhard simply headed to the entrance of his store. "Common I'll find some cheap gear for you."

Upon hearing this the shield and bow Heroes wordlessly followed and entered the establishment while Erhard went into the back after switching the sign to closed.

After a minute or two of waiting the blacksmith emerged with a pair of pants, a leather top and two cloaks, dark green one and a light grey one.

"How much?" Naofumi inquired.

"It's on the house."

"I'd rather pay you back. I have no intention of becoming a thief."

Erhard groaned a bit before simply saying "Five copper, pay me back whenever."

With that Naofumi grabbed all of the gear and went into the changing save for the light grey cloak which Audrey decided to take a look at.

It wasn't anything particularly special. The stats shown the Audrey as much. "Is it ok if I have the other cloak?"

**Light Gray Cloak: Defense up (very small)**

Still considering her defense was her short coming in contrast to Naofumi even this would count for something especially since she'd be on her own for the time being. She may have had the money to buy better gear right then and there but since she lost the crown's support she'd have to find her own way to make money, she figured she could do odd jobs here and there but she had yet to actually look into it.

"Sure, like the one the shield hero took it's some of my cheapest equipment."

"Thanks." Audrey said before securing the cloak around her shoulders whilst Naofumi came out of the dressing room now wearing the basic gear provided for him by Erhard and silently heading for the door after leaving a single silver piece on the desk.

"Wait." Audrey said causing Naofumi to stop in his tracks.

"I still have to pick up the materials I want to give you."

"Thanks but are you sure you want to give up your resources? You haven't been framed for anything but the king said he was no longer going to support you meaning you won't be getting those monthly funds anymore so you might want to save whatever you have."

"Yeah I'm sure. I already decided yesterday that I wanted to give them to you and that hasn't changed even in this situation."

Naofumi simply gave a silent grunt before Erhard came back with the materials from the body of the vicious rabbit which consisted of the fur, skin, muscle, and bones.

"I also got the tools you'll need to skin you kills yourself but unlike the cloak or the shield hero's new gear I'm gonna be charging you for this."

"How much?"

"Three silver."

Audrey immediately pulled out the required amount and placed it on the desk before she grabbed a piece of each material and handed them to Naofumi who fed them to his shield. "I promise that I'll return the favor."

"Alright." Audrey then proceeded to feed the materials she previously was unable to to her bow.

**Vicious rabbit skin bow unlocked:**

**stat bonus: Dex + 1**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Vicious rabbit leather bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: apothecary + 1 Agi + 2**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Vicious rabbit muscle bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 2 Agi + 3**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Vicious rabbit bone bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Def + 1 Agi + 2**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

Audrey let out a brief groan, she got stat bonuses that would further her prowess but not single skill which is what she was hoping for. 'It's still a step forward.' She thought as she and Naofumi left the establishment after Audrey picked up the tools she bought.

Once the two were outside they made their way through the streets not bothering to responding to any of the whispering about the shield hero until both of them made their way to the city gates leading to the outer fields.

Before Naofumi suddenly stopped causing the bow hero to look at him in curiosity.

"Audrey…."

"Yes?"

Naofumi kept his eyes to the ground in front of him. "Thank you for standing up for me but….. I think it's best if we go our separate ways."

Audrey found herself stunned by the request. "Naofumi….."

"I just need some time to work out my frustrations and besides you need level yourself up; I don't want to hold you back."

Audrey wanted to argue otherwise to come up with a reason not to leave Naofumi alone now of all times, honestly the thought of having to do so actually pained her heart more than she could have ever anticipated.

But as much as she may have been loath to admit it Naofumi was right. She still had to make sure to strengthen her own weapon so unfortunately so in the end she had to separate from Naofumi sooner or later. While she was already aware of this she still at least hoped that she would be able to stay by Naofumi's side until he found a new companion but with him pushing for their separation…..

"Are you sure this is what you really want?"

"It's for the best…...there's no reason you should have to suffer with me. So please let's just go our different ways."

"Alright." Audrey said with her eyes downcast at the confirmation she would indeed have to leave Naofumi alone but even so…

Audrey raised her head to face "But remember no matter what I'll always be on your side even if the rest of the world insist on thinking you're the scum of the earth." She said resolutely.

"Right." Naofumi said before he began walking away whilst Audrey watched on as his silhouette became smaller and disappeared into the distance.

After the shield hero was gone all the bow hero could do was bring herself to go and venture further out into the fields where stronger monsters lurked.

"If I remember correctly this should be the area with the group of monsters around my level which consisted of eggs and mushrooms are." She immediately began dispatching of them and collecting the materials in the process to feed to her bow and store away for the time being. Of course in the process she managed to unlock more bows in the process mainly consisting of the mushroom series.

After increasing her level to 8 Audrey decided to experiment in order to see just far the variety of materials that her shield could absorb went. Walking over to a nearby tree and picked up a leaf that had fallen from the branches.

She wasn't completely sure if something as mundane as a leaf would work but the possibility there without a doubt considering the help screen implied as much and the weapon did take her quarter. Still when it came to absorbing materials that didn't come from monster parts Audrey felt that she needed to confirm whether it was anything and everything or just a select number of materials such as various metals and ores amongst other things.

She soon got her answer when she touched the leaf to the bow's jewel and to her relief the leaf was absorbed.

**Leaf bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: apothecary + 4**

**Equip effect: medicine concoction quality up (very small)**

**Skills: None**

Aubrey smiled at this since this meant there was a greater number of bow variations that she could unlock gaining a number of stat bonuses. Not wanting to waste any time she began collecting anything within immediate reach of her.

**Grass bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: apothecary + 2 stealth + 3 Agi + 2**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Soil bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: stealth + 2 digging + 4**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Tree bark bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Dex + 1 woodcutting + 2**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Wood bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 3 woodcutting + 3**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Stone bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 4 Def + 3**

**Equip effect: Impact resistance (very small)**

**Skills: none**

Now that she had obtained all the bows she was able and raising her level nearly to the double digits she felt secure enough to start facing the next tier of monsters and on top of that the current monster group she was facing was no longer provided a sufficient amount of exp anymore. Still none of that meant she was going to get complacent or overconfident since that could very easily come back to bite her if what happened to her former team during the skirmish with the vicious rabbit was of any indication.

Continuing further away from the proximity of the capital the bow hero by some off chance managed to find a cave of all things out in the middle of the fields.

While she had some reservations about going inside the cave since there was no telling if she would have another run in with a monster that was exceptionally stronger than she was like with the vicious rabbit and the darkness inside hindering her vision she knew she didn't have much of a choice.

There were openings in the roof of the cave allowing a fair amount of light to enter but it wasn't completely illuminated.

Stepping a bit inside Audrey walked slowly through the cave before stopping at the point where there was no more light came in. The bow hero narrowed her eyes at the rest of the cave which was pitch black. Without a source of light Audrey was highly susceptible to being ambushed which was an idea she was not the least bit fond of.

Sighing the bow hero resigned herself to being forced to give up. 'I hoped to find some kind spoil here.' If there was indeed something in the cave that could have benefited her Audrey would have to come back she a light source for the innermost part of the cave.

However, has she was about to turn around to leave she heard a growl coming from the darker part of the cave. Gazing at the direction of where the growl came from the bow hero witnessed a black leopard like creature with a pair of sharp saber teeth sticking out of its mouth.

Audrey scrutinized the monster as it began slowly stalking its way towards her likely getting in position to attack all the while the bow hero slowly backed up.

**Saber tooth black leopard: level 11**

Audrey clicked her tongue in frustration. She was aware of the distinct chance of there being another monster that would have the level advantage over her but frankly she really had no desire to have another fight like this, the one with the vicious was enough for her until she could find new party members.

Unfortunately, she wasn't being given the luxury of a choice; in some ways she was better prepared for this situation than the previous time in the sense she wasn't caught off guard outright and that she had more variations of her bow and therefore more stat bonuses however she may have been less prepared since this time she was on her own though it might have been debatable whether that was actually mattered since the party she had the first time wasn't exactly what anyone could consider reliable.

Regardless of all that Audrey knew she had only two real immediate options available her which were fight or flight. In the case of the former the space she was fighting in was unfavorable since in limited her ability to maneuver around but in the case of the latter the saber tooth black leopard would be right on her tail the moment she tried to flee and she wasn't confident she could actually get away however….

Audrey immediately turned around and made a mad dash for the cave entrance and as expected the black leopard upon seeing her run immediately gave chase. Audrey desperately hoped she could at least get outside before the black leopard caught up to her.

Glancing behind herself Audrey was both relieved and surprised to see that while the black leopard was indeed giving chase she was somehow nearly matching its speed so the monster was not gaining too much significant ground ensuring her escape from the cave at the very least. For a moment the bow hero thought that the black leopard was unusually slow before realizing that on the contrary she was managing to run faster than what the average human being was capable of.

After a few moments of internally inquiring how this was even possible she recalled that out of all her base stats her agility was the highest, thinking about it now it all clicked into place, the combination of her natural agility combined with the leveling she's done so far and the bows she's unlocked so far it made sense. She was able to all but match the leopards speed because of how much she's raised her agility.

Soon the bow hero made to the outside providing her with a far more vast space the fight and right on que the leopard was following right behind her.

Quickly spinning around Audrey saw that the saber tooth black leopard had already pounced right at her. Seeing as she didn't have the time needed to summon an arrow and take aim Audrey simply decided to switch to her stone bow and wait for the leopard to collide with her whilst creating an arrow.

The moment it did Audrey stumbled back a few steps whilst the leopard had both front paws on her arms with claws and saber teeth at the ready as it stood on its hind legs. Luckily Audrey was prepared for this and acted before the leopard had a chance to either tear into both of her arms with its claws or into her neck with its fangs via letting an arrow loose in the leopard's chest causing it to let go of her and drop to all four legs.

Audrey quickly used the opportunity to jump backwards to create some distance between herself and the leopard, thanks to the stats she had Audrey managed to a little over an entire meter.

Much to her frustration the leopard was determined to get its revenge for the arrow currently lodged in its chest via lunging at Audrey with its claws poised to rip her apart.

Audrey in turn leapt to the side but the leopard managed to keep pace her with turning in her direction the moment the momentum from its lunge came to an end and swiping one of its paws at her.

Quickly raising the bow itself Audrey positioned it to block the incoming attack. While the action didn't make for a very effective defense it was the only option she had since she didn't have enough time to dodge.

Luckily that thanks to the stone bow's impact resistance she was pushed back a bit but stayed on her feet none the less. Acting as swiftly as she was able to take aim and let another arrow loose.

The leopard in response stood on it hind legs long enough to swat the arrow away with its front paw.

Audrey grit her teeth whilst breaking into a dash to try to gain some distance. She knew her previous attack wasn't going to hit anywhere that would do fatal damage to the leopard when it went to counter the incoming projectile but she at least hoped the arrow would pierce its paw but as fate would have it that wasn't possible with her current amount of attack power.

The only way she could increase it further was by switching to her silver bow the problem was that it would lower her defenses. Granted the impact resistance that came from the stone bow's equip effect was minimal at best but it made certain Audrey wasn't knocked off her feet whenever the leopard collided with her using its paws which was something she was rather grateful for.

If the bow hero was actually pushed to the ground then she'd be left in highly vulnerable position that would all but guarantee her death, it would really came down to whether she could get back to her feet in time or if the saber would manage to leap on her while she was still down on the ground. She had enough agility to relatively keep up with the leopard but it took all of it just to keep from getting seriously injured, even if it was her best attribute when it came to her base stats she wasn't comfortable with the idea of simply relying on it by itself.

But considering what had just happened, relying on the stone bow had the drawback of giving the leopard the continued advantage of being able to parry her attacks without worry of suffering further damage.

The saber tooth black leopard leaped at the bow hero once more prompting her to jump to the side before following up with a counter attack that only grazing the leopard thanks to it using its own speed to also perform a side jump in order to avoid having a second arrow lodged in its body. Without missing a beat the leopard made a beeline for the bow hero.

Audrey in turned jumped backwards whilst getting another arrow ready and releasing it only for the leopard to swipe out of the air with its paw.

'Dammit this is even worse than the fight with the vicious rabbit!' Audrey thought to herself as she avoided another lunge via pivoting her body to the side.

Indeed this fight was even worse than the previous one. The vicious rabbit presented its own set of problems at the time it was encounter but at least it wasn't able to defend against Audrey's attacks.

The saber tough black leopard turned towards Audrey and made another swipe with its paw hitting her arm. Once again Audrey wasn't knocked over from the collision thanks to the stone bow's equip effect however this time the leopard managed to get her with its claws which tore through left massive gashes in Audrey's arm causing her to cry out in pain.

Audrey quickly put distance between herself and the Leopard and tried get another arrow ready to fire but thanks to the wounds in her arm Audrey found herself unable to react at optimal speed as a result the leopard was once more upon forcing her the run to the side before she chance to first.

Things only got worse when the leopard possibly sensing its new found advantage refused to let up in its assault and made another beeline to attack Audrey and once more it was all she could do to dodge the attack with a side jump. Of course the saber tooth black leopard kept the pressure on eager to kill her and soon it became a repeated process.

Audrey felt her frustration grow even further, she was managing to at least keep her alive for the time being but it was only a matter of time before her stamina ran dry and that would be the end for her if she didn't find a way to turn the situation around in a very short time. However the only possible way she could do that was by switching to her silver bow to increase her attack which would be a risk since she'd no longer have the impact resistance.

'Like I have a choice at this point.' It might have been risky but the situation was literally a do or die scenario.

Evading another lunge Audrey decided to try a different kind of evasive maneuver rather than simply jumping back or to the side she performed a somersault along the ground.

Her arm screamed out in protest but she willed herself to push through the pain and lack of energy from it. 'I don't know if this isn't going to work.'

Forcing her body into a position where she was crouched on one knee with and arrow aim right the leopard as it turned in her direction. 'But even if it's only a one percent, I take the chance.'

The legendary bow changed to the silver bow. 'I have no intention of simply lying down and dying!'

The leopard ran after Audrey and in response she fired the arrow. As expected the leopard made a swipe with its paw to deflect the projectile but much Audrey's satisfaction the arrow lodged itself in the leopard's paw causing the monster to stumble and fall on its side.

Finally getting some leeway to go on the offensive the bow hero swiftly got to her feet and ran around the leopard while it was getting to its own and trying to get the arrow out and took aim at its hind leg.

While Audrey wasn't at one hundred percent in terms of her reflexes the Leopard's current distraction ensured that she'd have the time she needed to take the shot she intended to.

"Let's see how you like it when you have an injury slowing you down." With that Audrey let another arrow fly through the air and pierce the leopard's hind leg.

The saber tooth black leopard let out a shriek of pain and attempted to quickly turn to Audrey in hopes of retaliating however thanks to her previous attack not only was it unable to turn its body very fast anymore but it had a hard time maintaining its balance because of its injured leg so much so that it all but fell on it side.

Audrey shot off another arrow into the leopard's shoulder rending its front leg unusable since it could no longer put its full weight on the limb in question.

No longer able to use two of its limbs the saber tooth black leopard could only glare at Audrey now that it essentially went from being the hunter to pray.

Taking her time Audrey summoned another arrow and released it right into the space between the saber tooth black Leopard's eyes.

The moment the arrow pierced the target the leopard let out a final roar in agony to the sky before collapsing to the ground.

Audrey sighed in relief that the fight was finally over before wincing in pain from the wounds in her and falling to her knees and hands and panting heavily.

Now that her adrenaline was going down Audrey felt a great deal of fatigue begin overtaking her body.

Getting briefly Audrey walked over to a nearby tree and sat against it before decided to glance at her title screen.

**Audrey Alethea level 10**

**Weapon legendary bow "locked"**

**Equipment: leather armor: defense up (small)**

**Hp: 531/897**

**Sp: 149/149**

**Sta: 45**

**Def:21**

**Agi:63**

**Dex:52**

**Skills: none**

Audrey was surprised to see that she had went up two levels instead of just one which she could sum up to the saber tooth black leopard granting her more exp than she would have anticipated.

Another factor she noticed was that the rating from her armor's defense up rating went up from "very small" to "small". 'Must be because of the added effect of the cloak I'm wearing.'

"Dammit someone already stole my kill? You've got to be kidding me!" A voice moaned out in annoyance jerking the bow hero's attention in the process.

Looking in the direction of the voice Audrey saw a young woman around the same age as herself with light blue shoulder length hair and wearing a leather breastplate and shoulder pads over a dark green long sleeved shirt and brown pants along with what looked like a rapier strapped to her side staring at the dead leopard with a look of dissatisfaction.

Audrey could only sigh upon hearing that. If this newcomer wanted to be the one to kill the saber tooth leopard Audrey would have happily left things up to her.

The unknown woman fell to the ground on her knees before crocodile tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. "Man this totally sucks, I finally find a lead on a potential treasure I could sell to make some decent money but nooooo someone has to kill the black leopard and make off with the treasure it was guarding before I even arrived."

Audrey sweat dropped as she watched the gloom and drama unfold unsure of what to make out of the woman who had just arrived on the scene.

"Was mother right, Am I really not cut out to be an adventurer?"

"Um excuse me."

The lady turned to Audrey. "I'd appreciate if you didn't rub salt in the wound with your pi- Are you ok!?" The lady exclaimed seeing the bow hero's bleeding arm and running over to her.

"I'll live."

"Hold on I have a healing potion on me."

"Wait you don't have to-"

Before Audrey could finish her sentence the lady adventurer was already holding out a glass bottle and taking the cork out.

"Drink this it'll heal your wound."

While Audrey wasn't too eager to accept a gift from a stranger since it could lead to her owing them which was a predicament she would have rather avoided if she could help it, the problem was that she wasn't able to since the injury combined with her lack of energy reduced the odds of when making back to the capital with collapsing in the middle of the field at the mercy of any potential advisory that could show up while she was unconscious.

Slowly Audrey reached and took the bottle in her hand and drank the contents within seconds. Almost instantaneously she felt the pain in her arm subside catching her by surprise. After handing the empty bottle back to the female adventurer Audrey felt her arm to discover that there wasn't even the slightest semblance of pain.

Lifting up her sleeve Audrey was shocked to see the gashes in her arm were completely gone, wiping the blood away she soon discovered there wasn't even a scar left.

"Pretty amazing don't you think? High quality potions are pretty hard to come by but they work wonders." The female adventurer said.

Audrey sighed before changing her bow to its currency form. "How much was that potion worth?"

When no answer came Audrey looked up and saw the female adventurer staring at her bow with a stars in her eyes.

"How did you come across such a weapon?!"

"I...got it when I was first summoned here."

The Adventurer looked at Audrey then back to her bow.

"Wait a minute. Are you one of the legendary heroes by any chance?"

"Yeah but how did you know?"

"There were rumors that the cardinal heroes had all been "summoned" and now that I think about it back when I was younger I read depictions about how their weapons granted the heroes special powers and changed form like your bow did just now."

"That makes sense. A normal bow wouldn't be able to shift appearances."

"True but that aside are you the one who took out this monster?"

"Pretty much, I was basically trying to level myself up in preparation to fight the waves while strengthening my bow so I went into the cave that it was staying in hopes of gaining a decent amount of experience."

"Wait does that mean you haven't claimed the treasure the leopard was guarding?"

"I didn't even know there was any treasure in the cave at all, as I said before, I was just trying to gather a decent amount of experience before the wave arrived."

"Alright I go get it then."

"If you feel so inclined."

"Alright but could you please wait here until I get back?"

"Sure I still need to strip down the leopard's body anyway so I'll still be here for a little bit."

"Good, I'll be back as soon as I can." The female adventurer said before turning towards the cave. "I'm Bluebell by the way, nice to meet you."

The bow hero glance at the adventurer who now identified herself for a moment. "Audrey, likewise."

Without another word Bluebell made her way inside the cave. Audrey was a little worried about monsters still being inside of it but at the very least the danger would be limited now thanks to her killing the saber tooth black leopard, speaking of which she needed to get to work getting the various materials from the corpse.

Producing the knife she had purchased from Erhard from her bow's item inventory she was relieved to see that it didn't shock her which she assumed was because she didn't have any intention of using it to fight.

Upon starting she immediately found out the job was going to be more grotesque than she had anticipated, once she began cutting into the body blood started leaking out which was rather cringe worthy in her opinion and another reminder that the world she was in was real. Still she needed to get the various materials to add to her bow's arsenal.

After cutting off a small piece of skin with the fur still attached off the body she immediately fed it to her bow.

**Saber tooth black leopard fur bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Agi + 4 freezing resistance + 4 stealth + 5**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Saber tooth black leopard skin bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Dex + 3 appraisal + 4**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Saber tooth black leopard leather bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Def + 2 freezing resistance + 5**

**Equip effect:none**

**Skills: none**

After unlocking those three bows Audrey cut off another piece of skin before ringing it out to draining of any excess blood before storing it in the monster drop inventory. 'It gave me some good stat boost so it'll be of help to Naofumi.'

After that was done, she decided to go for the next material, cut out a piece of raw meat she fed to her bow's jewel before shaking excess blood off of her hands and was beheld with a rather pleasant surprise.

**Saber tooth black leopard meat bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 5 Agi + 7**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: Quick dash**

'So I got my first skill.' Audrey thought to herself. Judging from the name she had a feeling the skill in question's function was probably self explanatory but she decided to see if the help screen could provide any more info or at least give confirmation to what she already suspected.

Skill "Quick dash" allows the hero to gain a short burst of speed across short distances. Recommend use for avoiding enemy attacks.

"This'll be a big help down the road." Audrey mused to herself, it might not have been an attack type skill but if it helped her out in terms of evasion she wasn't going to complain.

Turning back to the corpse Audrey continued harvesting pieces of skin and meat of store it in her monster drop inventory for the sake of selling them later and of course a peice the latter to give to Naofumi, since it provided Audrey with a useful skill she was sure it could do the same for her fellow hero.

"Alright I'm back." Bluebell said now holding what looked to be some type of amulet looked to be some of amulet in her hand.

"It looks like you found the treasure you were looking for."

"Yeah since you already got rid of its guardian getting it was a straightforward task." Bluebell said walking over to Audrey. "Anyway here." She said making gesture to hand the amulet over to Audrey earning a raised eyebrow for the cardinal hero.

"Didn't you intend to sell it?"

"I did and that's what I would have done if I actually had the right."

"Had the right?" Audrey repeated confused by that previous statement.

"I'm not the one who took down the monster you're in the middle of stripping. In spite of my rotten luck when its comes to adventuring I'm not gonna go around stealing what others have earned."

In spite of her dramatic display when she found the saber tooth black leopard dead before she even showed up it seemed bluebell had a strong sense of justice, from what Audrey could see so far it seemed like this adventurer would make for a much better companion than her previous ones. Her prowess was unknown but she wasn't trying to constantly suck up (or feign doing so) to Audrey at every turn and give her false compliments that were exaggerated.

"Ok if you say so." Audrey said taking the amulet.

**Enchanted amulet: fire resistance (very small) slash resistance (small) Hp restoration (very low)**

The amulet would certainly have a use for her. After putting the amulet on Audrey looked over to Bluebell getting ready to thank her and ask her what she could do in exchange for the potion when she heard the latter's stomach growl.

"Ooohhhh what am I going to do for food tonight? I need the last of my money to stay at the inn."

"I think I might be able to help with that if only as a way to thank you for giving me that potion after I'm done harvesting this thing."

"Are you certain?"

"Without a doubt. You helped me out and even gave me something that'll make my quest to fight the waves easier so it's the very least I can do."

"Alright, in that case I'll help you strip this monster down, it'll be faster that way."

With that the two essentially stripped the leopard of most of its skin and meat before moving to the fangs, it was a bit of a tedious task doing so since the teeth were made of a harder material than the skin or meat but Audrey managed to cut one of the saber teeth off and feed it to her bow.

**Saber tooth black leopard bone bow unlocked:**

**Stat bonus: apothecary + 6**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Saber tooth black leopard fang bow unlocked:**

**Stat boost: Agi + 6 Atk + 3 Dex + 3**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: (ability locked)**

Upon seeing this Audrey immediately pulled up her help screen to see what was going on. Apparently she wasn't at the required level to unlock the skill in question so it remained inaccessible until she reached the level requirement to use it which was thirty five in spite of her having the bow variant it came with. 'Well this makes things a bit more complicated.' She thought with a sigh.

Returning to the task at hand she soon removed the other saber tooth saving it for the shield hero and moved on to the claws.

Saber tooth black leopard claw bow unlocked:

Stat boost: Atk + 3 Agi + 2

Equip effect: none

Skills: none

With the last bow unlocked and the spoils from her kill harvested (and disposed of with a basic fireball spell courtesy of Bluebell) Audrey and Bluebell headed back to the capital.

XXXXX

"Alright order whatever you want." Audrey said offhandedly.

"What about you?"

"Seeing as I can't read any of this I'm just going to order whatever is the cheapest meal on here."

"You can't read?"

"Not the language here, but I can back in my world."

"So you and the other heroes really came from another world?" Bluebell inquired with her interest piqued.

"Yeah though we actually came from four individual versions of our world."

"Really?!" Bluebell asked enthusiastically.

"Pretty much, we found out when we all discussed the circumstances of how we got here."

"I see. What are the other heroes like?"

"I don't know much about two of them but I can tell you this. The sword hero has a bit of an over inflated ego making him pretty arrogant in my opinion at least though you'll likely have to meet him to see for yourself."

"And...the shield hero?" Bluebell asked this time with a tone of discomfort which Audrey didn't miss.

"I'm guessing even you heard the rumors?"

"Ye-yes….. I want to believe that there has to be something more to this entire story the shield hero is known to be the kindest of the four heroes particularly to the demihumans."

"Demihumans?"

"You don't know? Aren't there any in your world?"

"No there's no such thing where any of us come."

"That surprising, is your world different from ours?"

"In more ways than you can imagine."

"I see, to start with Demi human are people who have animal like trades like ears, feathers, or even tails."

"So basically a person who might have dog and cat like ears instead of a humans along with a tail?"

"Yes and there are also beastmen which are humanoid like animals, just think of something like a minotaur or wolfman."

"I think I get the picture."

"Good but back to what we were discussing before, what I really want to ask is did the shield hero really do….. what everyone is claiming he did?"

"It's up to you whether you believe the rumors or not but I know for a fact he's innocent."

Bluebell's expression turned surprisingly hopeful. "You do?"

"Without a single doubt after everything that happened leading up to and during the trial."

"Is it ok if I ask about what exactly happened?"

"If you're willing to hear me out but I'll have to start at the beginning so you'll understand." With that Audrey preceded to explain how when she and the other heroes were first summoned oddities immediately began show when nobles were shooting hateful looks at Naofumi and when the king confirmed all the heroes names how he tried to ignore the shield hero and how the next day when adventures came in no one initially picked Naofumi and the king tried to use a fabricated lie to explain it.

The bow hero went on to explain the rest of what happened from how Myne who suddenly changed her mind about which hero she wanted to join and went to Naofumi's party instead and how she tried to trick the shield hero into buying an expensive weapon for her that she couldn't even use and how when all the heroes began slaying monsters she didn't even lift a finger to help the shield hero.

Listening to Audrey's Bluebell expression became one of shock likely finding the idea that the king would do such a thing hard to take in but she continued listening apprehensively none the less.

Audrey continued telling Bluebell about how Myne tried to offer Naofumi an alcoholic drink only for him to decline and retire to his room along with Audrey for the night and how the next day all his clothes and gear were stolen and how the trials went in great detail.

By the end of Audrey's explanation Bluebell wore an expression of absolute disbelief. "Our king…...how could he do such a thing and that woman and even…the spear hero."

"So you believe me?"

"Yes, what you've told me makes much more sense than the rumors considering this kingdom's state religion."

"State religion?" Audrey asked with her own interests now piqued.

"Yes this country worships the three of the four heroes and declaring the other hero to be a devil."

'Don't tell me!' "The hero of the shield?"

"Yes, you see this country is one that emphasizes human supremacy over demihumans."

Audrey was about to ask what that had to due with the state religion when she remembered what Bluebell told her about what the shield hero was known for.

"Meaning the shield hero would actually be hated here because they're known for their generosity towards demihumans."

"Yes."

The bow hero sighed. "Once again I'm left wondering why the king had Naofumi summoned at all if the shield hero is viewed as the devil in this country."

"I wish I knew, I would have thought the king would be fairer than this."

"Things would be so much better if he was."

"And to think the spear hero's in on this ploy, that's one thing I don't want to believe."

"I wish I could tell you otherwise but he was wearing Naofumi's stolen chainmail and insisting that it was "a gift" from Myne even though she had came to him for help after nearly being raped. You can see where that doesn't add up right?"

"Of course."

"Anyway I have to think of someway to help him or at least find someone who'd be willing to fight alongside him."

"Perhaps the local demihumans might be our best bet. It might be worth looking into tomorrow."

"Alright let's meet here tomorrow morning."

Soon after the meals that the two ordered arrived and the ate eagerly with anticipation for the next day.

Audrey for what might have been the first time since she had been summoned to this was able to feel genuine happiness at the fact fact she'd be able to truly help someone when they truly needed it the most just as her friend Patricia would have done.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter. Originally I was going to have Audrey stay with Naofumi up to the point he purchased Raphtillia but I wanted to make sure she had met her first companion (I think the interaction between her and Bluebell makes it pretty self explanatory at this point so there's no point in trying to hide it) and her first skill.**

**As for the reason of reason Audrey didn't get made an outcast is because trash, bitch, and the three heroes church were pinning their hopes on the trial turning her against Naofumi and they didn't have anything to falsely charge her with however this doesn't mean things will be easy for her since her support from the crown is going to be cut off now and her stance hasn't gone unnoticed by the church.**

**Anyway, the next chapter might take a little more time. I need to think of stuff to happen otherwise I'll have to just have to go to the point the second wave takes place.**


	4. Planning, preparation, and training

**Here's the 4th chapter of unwavering heart I gotta say I'm glad to see the favorites, follows, and reviews im getting, my efforts are paying off.**

**I also want to really thank those who suggested various games I could use as inspiration to think of more types of bows for Audrey to gain that didn't just come from monster parts or natural materials, truth be told I was actually in something of a bind with that so all your suggestions of using monster hunter and other games truly helped me to plan ahead going foreword.**

**Anyway as per the usual stuff before the ch starts.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ROTSH**

* * *

Upon waking up Audrey wasted no time in putting on all her gear and heading downstairs to find Bluebell already waiting for her at one of the tables.

"You're quite the heavy sleeper I see." The latter said as the former came over and sat across from her.

"You try spending the better part of the previous day fighting monsters off before having a run into one that is immensely strong in comparison to yourself and still having to somehow fight it off on your own in spite of being at a clear disadvantage and still having to strip its body down afterwards and see if you don't find yourself exhausted beyond measure."

Bluebell giggled a bit in response. "Keep in mind I gave you a high quality potion that healed your injury and helped you strip down the monster's carcass."

"True but it would have been much more appreciated if you had shown up sooner to help me out during the fight with the black saber tooth leopard."

"By the time I found out about the mission to fell that monster you had already left the capital. You basically had an inadvertent head start by a wide margin."

"Fair enough, anyway I've kind of been meaning to ask. Where can I get more healing potions?" The bow hero inquired.

"At the apothecary of course. Brewing all sorts of concoctions is the store's specialty."

"That makes sense; is there anything else I should know?"

"Well the quality of any potions on sale are likely moderate at best and limited in terms of stock, so it would be best if you brought the ingredients for which ever potions you need so the owner can concoct them for you if you're intending to have a high number of them."

"If actual concocting is involved then I'd prefer to just do it myself so I can make whatever I need on the spot or at least at my own convenience." Audrey said.

"I can't deny that it would certainly make things a lot easier for anyone."

"Plus I don't want to be forced to traverse to and from the shop during times when I'm in the middle of taking care of something urgent or somewhere far from its location."

"It's easy enough to see your point but you would need to know the recipes for whatever you want to make."

Audrey sighed upon hearing this, it would only make sense that she would have to know the individual recipes for different medicines and potions. Knowing how both realism and general game knowledge tended to work she'd very likely have to learn them one by one from scratch.

'Couldn't hurt to see even if the odds of the case being otherwise are all but nil.'

Audrey made a move to open her status menu earning a curious look from Bluebell. "What are you doing?"

"Opening something called a status screen which each hero has to see various things pertaining to our own individual status and those of those we form a party with."

"Oh, I see I see!" Bluebell exclaimed enthusiastically earning the combination of a chuckle and sweat drop from the bow hero.

It was amusing to see Bluebell's interest in the legends even of the summoned heroes but Audrey couldn't help but couldn't help but feel that her new acquaintance might be getting a bit carried away since she managed to draw stares from the other patrons.

"Anyway I'm trying to see if I can get any more information on what we're discussing from this menu."

Looking through all the tabs Audrey was unsure of where she was supposed to start, thinking about it now there should have been a tab for what recipes she knew if they were another factor that worked like something from a game then surely they should…'I guess it was here after all.'

She had no idea how she had missed it before now but there it was a tab titled "current recipes" which she opened and beheld with a sight that she was more or less expected to see.

**? **

**? **

**? **

**? **

**? **

**? **

'Of course there's nothing here.' She thought to herself. Even though conventional knowledge implied knowing any recipes prematurely was impossible she had a sliver of hope she'd already have some basic registered within the list even if such a thing was unrealistic.

"So did you find what you were looking for?" Bluebell asked.

"Yeah and it looks like I'm gonna have to start learning recipes from scratch." She admitted.

"Then you might want to learn to read this country's language first since any information on any type of recipe comes from books, I'd be willing to help if….."

"If?" Audrey mimicked.

"Well seeing as you're now in need of party members I was wondering if I might be able to join you."

At this the bow hero smiled at Bluebell. The time that Audrey had spent with Bluebell was even shorter than what she spent with Naofumi however from what little time Audrey had been around Bluebell the adventurer had quickly shown herself to have far more honesty and a better sense of justice than her original members and the cherry on top of it all was that Bluebell wasn't introduced by the king meaning she wasn't a crony he could use to try manipulating Audrey.

"Of course you can." With that Audrey immediately sent Bluebell a party invite.

"Promise I won't let you down."

"Good because I'll be counting on you going forward unlike the people the king provided me with."

"You've nothing to worry about, in spite of my less than favorable luck at times I know not to just throw myself at every monster I see recklessly and I know a bit of basic fire magic." With that Bluebell accepted the party invite.

Audrey was pleased to see that her new party was at level 6. It meant she wouldn't have to go back to fighting basic balloons for the sake of catching bluebell up though she felt the need to reiterate her previous belief in wishing that Bluebell had shown up sooner when the fight with the saber tooth black leopard was still going on considering the gap in levels she would have been faced with.

"Since learning to read this country's language is going to take time I'll have to purchase whatever potions I can in the meantime."

"Ok. Any idea as to what we'll be doing afterwards?"

"Looking for Naofumi and seeing if we can find any local demihumans that'd be willing to help him."

"Alright but you remember what I told you yesterday about how this country practices human supremacy correct?"

"Yes. Is it going to affect finding Naofumi a partner?"

"It might make it rather difficult since most demihumans in this kingdom don't have easy lives."

"I already figured as much when you talked about the stance on human supremacy the first time around."

"I know but…."

"But?"

"It's actually even worse than that."

"How so?" Audrey asked now having the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer she was about to be given.

"Most demihumans in this kingdom are more often than not sold into slavery."

There was a long silence as Audrey processed this shocking. She could understand a class system that immensely favored one group over another but slavery? To implement something that cruel of all things, that painted Melromarc in a far worse light than ever before.

A large part of the bow hero was questioning why she or anyone had to be summoned to fight for such sickening people. The worst part is that those that summoned her and the others were trying to manipulate them for their own ends or discriminate against them (in the case of Naofumi) to ensure the hero in question that they don't like fails.

That last part made her blood all but boil, seriously the way they treated Naofumi was downright atrocious, to summon him, ignore him, then hand pick the companions so no one would join him and even after that their antics didn't stop, the king and that lying cunt had set up that fake trial and framed him on top of having all of his gear along with his clothes stolen, had Audrey not told him about using the currency shield to store his money he would have been left penniless also.

Seriously the more she learned about this world's people the more disgusted she was by them. For them to be willing to use a bad situation where lives were at stake to their own advantage for the sake of furthering whatever petty agendas they may have been hiding was inexcusable. Honestly at this point Audrey really had to question just what made this world worth sav...

"Sorry I didn't mean to upset you." Bluebell suddenly apologized earning a look of surprise from Audrey after she was snapped out of her thoughts.

"It's not your fault it's just finding out that slavery is practiced in this world isn't exactly something I can smile upon." The bow hero replied calming down.

"Have you witnessed it back in your own world?"

"No but in the past it was practiced in the country that I came from at least until it was outlawed in the aftermath of a civil war."

"I'm glad to hear it. Your world sounds like a wonderful place."

Audrey smiled a bit upon hearing the place she had come from receiving praise. "There are those who do what they can to make it a better place but it's still far from being perfect."

"Maybe but to hear of a place where no one can be forced into servitude by others."

"I take it you're not a sympathizer of those who believe in human supremacy?"

"Of course not, I came from one of the few regions where the demihumans are treated fairly and I've played with many demihumans children when I was little."

"That's relieving to know, the country I come from doesn't hold much tolerance for racist beliefs and I don't care for those that have them."

"And neither do I."

"Anyway let's head out." With that the duo exited the inn and on their way to their first intended destination the bow hero took time to think of what else she should do leading up to the waves.

If the situation with securing any type of potions was anything to go by then she needed to do more than simply farm to level and unlock new bow variants.

She'd need to learn numerous recipes for different medicines which in turn lead to what she had just discussed with Bluebell about needing to learn to read the country's writing.

And now that she had time to truly think about it Audrey realized that it might help to improve on her archery skills. She had precision and speed down pat along with the proper stance to use whenever she used any type of bow and arrow but before coming to this world.

Still back then she was only shooting at stationary targets, shooting at moving targets and tried to fight back was another story even if it was ultimately manageable thanks to the amount of skill she had thanks to years of practice suffice to say she needed to grow more adept at using the bow in battle.

She surmised that the best place to start on the list of tasks she was setting for herself in the future was improving on shooting while she was furthering her skills when it came to shooting a target that moved, at the very least honing her overall archery skills would allow her to use the legendary bow to its highest potential at least when weapon skills weren't involved.

Another thing she'd have to look into was magic. She had already witnessed both one of her original teammates and bluebell use it ready making it a given that it existed in this world but that begged the question of if it was possible for her to learn it.

If so then what type of magic would she be able to use, would it be any kind she wished to learn or a certain type of affinity in the case she'd have a choice or if the affinity was already set. Whatever the case might have been it was something that could help further her prowess if the possibility of learning it even existed.

There was also the method she was able to use to enhance any individual bow skills that she unlocked.

Speaking of the said method Audrey decided to look through her status screen and pull up the quick dash skill in order to see where she might find its current level.

**Quick dash Lv1/15**

The bow hero couldn't help but raise an eyebrow upon seeing this, the last time she looked through her list of available skills all the screen shown was the name of the skill in question not its level or so she could have sworn but that was another oddity in and of itself that was actually starting to stand out.

First back when she told Naofumi about the monster drop inventory he initially was unsure of whether or not to believe Audrey claiming it wasn't there the first time he looked, then the recipe tab seemingly appeared out of nowhere in Audrey's own menu screen and now this. It was almost like the menu screen was altering itself and adding new features.

The bow clicked her tongue as she was beginning to suspect this but she couldn't truly confirm it as things stood.

Audrey couldn't help but sigh upon taking all of this in. Her schedule was going to be rather full for the time being. Still she would rather take the longer route to make sure she knew everything she needed to than just skim over everything and have it potentially catch up to her later.

Well on the bright side she shouldn't have to worry about being bored for a long while though it was the least of worries given the situation.

After another few minutes the duo made it to their first intended destination. "Welcome, are there any wares that might interest you?" The shopkeeper asked as soon as the two entered the establishment.

Audrey looked around seeing the various potions and appraising them. Their quality ranged from "very poor" to "poor" with only a select few being "fair" and only one of the said "fair" ones being actual healing potion causing the bow hero to sigh.

It looked like she wouldn't be obtaining higher quality items any time soon. All things considered it could probably be chucked to another reason to learn various recipes for concocting different medicines.

"I'm just here to stock up on a few healing potions before I head out to fight monsters." Audrey said offhandedly.

"Ah a couple of adventures I see."

"You could say that." The bow hero replied. While a part of her wondered how she was being mistaken for another common adventurer considering that her bow was somewhat of a give away as to who she was but regardless she didn't really care since her priorities lie with maximizing her chances of surviving the entire ordeal if the people needed someone to act the part of an idol then they could just look to spears hero's dumbass.

"So many are you looking to get?"

"At least five and if possible for their quality to at the very least be above very poor.

"That won't be a problem so long as you have the money."

"I can assure you that money won't be a problem."

"Alright then." With that the shopkeeper pulled five healing off the selves with four of the being of "poor" quality whilst the final was of "fair" quality. "One silver and thirty copper."

Audrey handed over two silver and received the change back along with the potions she purchased.

"Are you sure five will be enough?" Bluebell inquired as the two left the store.

"It'll have to do for the time being. Besides I don't exactly have the capacity to hold twenty and fifty things." Audrey said as she stored each of the potions in her bow's item inventory.

"You're able to store things within your bow aren't you?"

"Yes but how much I can put in depends on what specifically I'm storing."

"What do you mean?"

"My bow has two types of inventories. One for monster drops which I can store various materials collected from various kills which is pretty infinite like you'd most likely expect."

"And the other inventory?"

"It's used for actually items such as the potions I've put in, my knife, and the different pieces of my equipment but the problem is unlike the first one it has a limit of fifteen things."

"So that's why you only got a small number of potions."

"Yeah I'm gonna have to either get some type of backpack or find some way to expand the item inventory's space in the future."

"Well a backpack might be the simpler way to go but if we ever accumulate a lot of things it might be best to get a wagon."

"Maybe but I'm gonna probably need to find a horse to pull it."

"Not necessarily."

"Could you elaborate?"

"You see there are various types of monsters you could tame and have pull wagons."

Audrey placed a hand on her chin in contemplation. Taming a monster would certainly have its uses and if she could have it pull a wagon that was a plus or perhaps two since not only would doing so make it easier for her to keep a large number of items on her indirectly but it would make for a better mode of transportation.

Overall there were a lot of benefits in taming a monster and maybe having it as a teammate to help out. If the fight with the saber tooth black Leopard taught her anything it was that she couldn't realistically go through this by herself. She may have come out on top during that skirmish but that was only thanks to the equip effect of the silver bow and the skill she accumulated from her years of practicing archery. Still regardless of all that obtaining a monster would have to take a back seat in terms of priorities for the time being.

"Alright it might be worth looking into in the future."

"I want to find a vendor to sell the excess materials I have for whatever amount of money I can get."

"I know of one that we can go to."

"Lead the way."

It only took a few minutes of walking since the location of the vendor in question since they weren't far from the apothecary.

"Hello I heard that I can sell monster drops here is that true?"

"Yes." The vendor answered rather bitterly slightly confusing Audrey who decided to simply leave it be.

"Okay I got a lot of drops I want to sell." Audrey said producing all the balloon scraps from her bow earning a look of surprise from the vendor.

"What kind of weapon makes balloon scraps from nothing?!"

"What? No, my bow has the unique ability to store things in it."

"Is that so? I've never heard of such a weapon being to do that before in my years."

"Let's just say mine is...on the unique side...in more ways than one."

Vendor stared at the scrapes intently with a look of discomfort as there was something about them that he didn't like. Audrey was a bit curious as to what it was, surely it couldn't be that he was simply disgusted by certain monster parts considering the business he was running and even if that actually was the case there were other monster parts that were far more gross and grotesque than simple balloon scraps.

Perhaps the vendor had some type of phobia of orange balloons from some bad experience he had involving them, it was the only thing Audrey could have thought of.

Either way she'd never know. The vendor gave her two copper coins for each scrap. Audrey then proceeded to produce other pieces of various materials she had and got an overall around seventy silver coins.

'Alright this should help sustain our funds for the time being.'

After collecting her payment for the drops Audrey turned to Bluebell. "Is there anything you want to get before we head out?"

"Maybe a simple shield to increase my defense if only by a bit. Considering what weapons we have I believe I'm better suited for the vanguard position."

Audrey wanted to protest simply using Bluebell as a tank since it meant she'd be in an increased amount of danger but refrained from doing so since the underlying truth of the entire matter was that someone would have to play that role and Audrey was in no position to do it herself since her defense was minimal.

"Fair enough. I saw numerous shields on the wall of the weapon shop so I'm sure Elhard has something you can make use of."

"You know the owner personally?"

"Both me and Naofumi met him and got acquainted with him the first time we were there."

"I see, is he aware of you being one of the four heroes?"

"Yeah he's aware unlike most other people here."

"So you and the shield hero are friends with him?"

"I don't know if I'd go that far since we only met him a few days ago but he's been helpful to both of us."

"Do you believe he'll still be of help to the...other hero?"

"Yes, he's the one person who's at least given Naofumi the benefit of the doubt even after the rumors even after the rumors of his fabricated crime spread throughout the town giving him cheap gear when his previous gear was stolen."

"That's a relief."

"Anyway let's hurry after we're done there I want to do a little bit of farming to level both us up and get in a little practice hitting moving targets with my bow."

"Really? With how you took down that leopard on your own I would have thought you were already skilled with a bow."

"I am but before I was brought to this world I really only practiced hitting stationary targets and while I've been able to hit targets that move and fight back since being summoned as the bow hero it takes literally all of my concentration to pull it off so I'd like to grow more adept at it to better suit my skills for fighting in preparation for the waves."

"I know where we can find a few usapils."

"Will they help us in any way?"

"In two actually, they'll give a fair amount of experience allowing us to level up and since they have somewhat considerate speed they can also be used as a way to help you practice as a way of helping you become more attuned to shooting moving targets."

"That'll definitely make for a good starting point." Audrey mused as the two arrived at their next destination.

"It looks like you and the shield hero really like showing up together whenever you come here."

"Huh?"

Audrey was confused by the blacksmith's statement until she spotted the shield hero standing off to the side with an expression that easily conveyed that he had gone through a high amount of stress even after the trial had ended. While that was more or less to be expected given his ruined standing with the people of this country something told Audrey that something more happened with Naofumi while the two of them had separated.

The shield hero met the bow hero's gaze before muttering her name briefly and casting his own gaze to the ground almost as if in shame?

This caught Audrey's attention, did something else happen that Naofumi didn't want to talk about? Surely he should realize after the trial that she wouldn't laugh at or judge him.

"Naofumi is everything ok?" It sounded like rather obtuse question for obvious reasons which Audrey was very aware of but she wasn't sure what else to say after running into the shield hero unexpectedly.

Naofumi just continued staring at the ground whilst replying."I…..found someone to join my party."

"Ok." Audrey replied. She wanted to show more enthusiasm towards this revelation and encourage Naofumi that he was able to begin properly leveling up now but she sensed that there was something more to the arrangement that Naofumi wasn't overly eager to share.

"It's a great relief to know you found someone to assist you in your quest sir shield hero after what the king pulled at the trial." Bluebell chimed in leaving Naofumi taken aback.

"Yo-you believe I'm innocent?"

"Lady Audrey has informed me of everything that had transpired from when you and the other heroes were all summoned up to the trial, so I'm aware of what's actually going on."

"So you realize the king is trash?"

"I'm honestly shocked he would pull something so outrageous, he should have more common sense than this but that aside who's your new companion?"

Naofumi grunted before gesture over to the dressing room with his head which proved to Audrey that he was uncomfortable with the subject when it came to whoever his new companion was. "Naofumi is something wrong?" The bow hero inquired

"Th-the thing is….." He trailed off unable to finish his sentence.

Audrey found herself wondering if she should press the issue when a voice spoke up saying "I'm done." from the dressing room raising a red flag for Audrey.

The voice in question was fememine but that wasn't the problem, what was the problem was that the voice was young, alarmingly young giving the bow hero a sinking feeling as to why Naofumi was uncomfortable talking about his companion.

From the dressing room emerged a girl around ten years old if not younger with long brown hair wearing a red and brown traveling dress with a short sword strapped to their side.

One unique aspect the girl had was her animal-like ears and a somewhat bushy tail coming out of the back of her dress signifying her as the first demihuman Audrey has ever laid eyes on. Had circumstances been different Audrey might have taken some type of interest in the girl for the said aspect but there was a much more pressing matter at hand.

While Audrey wanted to be happy that Naofumi found someone to fight alongside him the fact his new teammate was a child of all things was far from pleasing, surely he had to know that the world and people were real and that a child shouldn't be dragged into the situation with the waves for any reason.

Audrey was about to chastise the shield hero when she noticed something more alarming in the form of a combination of the girl's nearly lifeless eyes, her unkempt hair, and most importantly the three shackles around both of her wrists and neck, seeing these Audrey remembered what Bluebell had told her of when she explained Melromark's general stance when it came to demihumans.

"Naofumi is this girl a slave?"

The only reply the shield gave was silence

"Please tell me she isn't!" Audrey pleaded more so than demanded.

"She is."

Audrey's own gaze fell to the ground unable to believe what she was hearing this. "Naofumi…...why?"

"I didn't buy a slave because I wanted to own one."

"Then why? Please tell me." Audrey pleaded.

She didn't know why but the idea that Naofumi would willingly resort to something this twisted was something Audrey didn't want to accept or perhaps she simply couldn't. Weather it was because the concept of slavery sickened her or if it was because it was Naofumi who she had gained admiration for after she got to know him on their first night in this world of all people getting involved in the practice she really didn't know.

There had to be something more to this, she knew that shitty excuse of a king went out of his way to make things unbearable for Naofumi but surely it couldn't have erased the kindness from his heart.

"I had to."

Audrey looked back up at Naofumi who was finally meeting her gaze as he continued.

"After we separated I tried to fight on my own but because of this stupid shield not giving me any attack power it's impossible. I need someone to fight for me like you suggested back at the tavern."

"But a slave of all things…."

"It was the only choice I had."

"How?"

"Thanks to that bitch setting me up no one will join me, the closest things I found to people actually willing to fight with me wore a group of thugs looking to rob me and that's not even counting the part where one of the vendors tried to rip me off only paying me two copper for thirty balloon scraps, I can't trust anyone not to try stabbing me in the back the first chance the get now."

"I see. So you purchased a slave since it's impossible for them to betray you." Bluebell said.

"Ye-yeah."

Upon hearing this Audrey understood what she needed to. Naofumi didn't purchase a slave because he wanted someone to abuse and control, he needed someone he knew wouldn't do anything like Myne had or try to harm him in some other way the moment his back was turned.

It wasn't that the shield hero desired this, the king and that cunt's actions made Naofume's situation so bad he had no choice but to resort to this.

A part of her felt disgust, not at Naofumi but once again at the king, Myne, Motoyasu, and all the people of this world another part of felt relief at knowing that Naofumi hadn't become twisted into someone who was no better than the people who were going out of their way to deny him any help he'd need.

After calming down Audrey spoke up once more to the shield hero. "Alright I get you were forced to do this because of that staged trial but Naofumi please promise me that you won't do anything cruel to the girl and don't force her to do something that's beyond her."

"I promise that I won't put her in any situation that's too much for her but Audrey I do need her to fight for me."

"I know." The bow hero conceded.

"Thank you for understanding and you two miss….."

"Bluebell." Audrey's teammate replied.

"I'm guessing you're Audrey's partner?"

"As of today yes."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise sir shield hero, I've always wanted a chance to see the four cardinal heroes with my own eyes."9

"I see. But anyway I got one more thing I need to do before I leave." With that Naofumi reached into his cloak momentarily confusing everyone present before he pulled out an orange balloon. "Raphtalia stab this balloon."

"Wh-what?!" The girl who was now identified inquired in a near state of panic.

"Stab this balloon." Naofumi said more firmly

In response Raphtalia pulled out her short sword and held it in both hands but beyond that she stood where she was with shaky legs which everyone present noticed.

It was plain to see that the demihuman girl was afraid of having to actually kill something.

Naofumi sighed before resorting to something he really didn't want to and certainly not in front of the one person who truly had faith in him. "Raphtalia stab this balloon that's an order."

As soon as Naofumi said this a purple tinted glow began to emit from Raphtalia's chest before the girl began receiving a painful shock.

Audrey was about to plead with Naofumi to stop before seeing that even the shield hero himself was grimacing at having to do this making it clear that he wasn't deriving any joy out of having to cause the demihuman girl pain.

Under the torment brought on by the slave crest the girl complied and ran at the balloon attempting to stab it only for the balloon to bite down on the blade and spit it out pushing Raphtalia back in the process.

"Try again and put more force into it." Naofumi said firmly enough to get the message across without coming off too harshly or activating the slave crest.

Raphtalia complied running at the balloon once more and thrusting her short sword foreword this time successfully stabbing and killing the balloon.

"So did both of you get exp from that?" Audrey inquired.

"Yeah, she got 7 exp while I only got 1."

"I'd say it looks like you'll be able to gather exp properly now but Naofumi I need you to remember what you just promised me."

"I will, as long as Raphtalia does her part, I'll protect her with my life and make sure nothing ever happens to her. You can count on that."

"I will."

"See you during the wave." Naofumi said as he and Raphtalia were about to leave the establishment before Audrey stopped exclaiming the word "wait." Prompting Naofumi to turn around and look at her with curiosity.

"I have something I was actually meaning to give that should help you."

"Audrey I appreciate it I really do but I don't have anything to give you in return."

"That's fine these materials are something I want to give you to help you. It's the most I can do since I can't fight alongside you."

"But I can't do anything for you." Naofumi replied.

"It's fine." Audrey said producing the materials from the black saber tooth cat that she saved for Naofumi from her bow. "I'm not giving these so I can get something in return, I'm doing this because I'm on your side."

"Uh...right." Naofumi said before taking the materials and absorbing them in his shield before he looked through all the bonus and effects they came with.

"Did they help?"

"Yeah I got some pretty decent stat bonuses and two new skills though I can only use one of them."

"I'm guessing the one from to claw is sealed?"

"Yeah but how did you know?"

"It's the same way with my bow. When I absorbed one of them into my weapon I got a notification saying that the skill was locked until I've reached level thirty five."

"Same for my shield."

"I figured as much. What about the one you can use?"

"It's a skill called "shield bash" and apparently its at level one of ten."

Audrey raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. It wasn't the skill level itself she wasn't expecting but rather its cap. Why was it only ten when the cap on her quick dash skill was fifteen? The only thing she could theorize was that the cap randomly varied depending on the individual skill in question but she'd have to unlock more skills for herself before she could draw any concrete conclusion.

"That makes sense my own skill has a level on it."

"Alright then. I promise I'll return the favor when I am able to." Naofumi declared before he turned his gaze to Raphtalia who had been staring at the two heroes curiously until Naofumi got her attention and they both left the establishment and the weapons shop owner turned the remaining hero.

"So bow hero, what are you here for?" Erhard asked Audrey.

"Well it might come as somewhat as an ironic surprise considering that Naofumi was just here but I'd like to buy a shield for my new companion."

"I see, anything in particular you had in mind?"

"I'd personally like something that'll give her defense a visible boost without it being too expensive. But it's up to her what she wants."

"I agree with lady Audrey's preference." Bluebell said.

"Alright but before I can recommend anything I need to ask what's your level?"

"Six."

Erhard sighed. "In that case, the only thing I can recommend is a basic wooden shield. After you level up to at least eight you can switch to a buckler or if your level is even higher an iron shield the next you come in."

Audrey cast a glance at one of the wooden shields hanging on the wall and appraised.

**Wooden shield: def up (very small)**

The bow hero had personally hoped that the shield in question would at least give a "small" boost in defense but seemed the situation situation. Audrey supposed the best thing to do was make sure that Bluebell was leveled up enough to get a better shield before the wave arrived.

"Alright how much?"

"45 copper pieces."

Audrey placed down one silver before receiving the change."

"You ready to head out Bluebell?"

"Yeah." The female adventurer said grabbing the shield off of the rack before the two turned to leave the store.

"So was there anywhere else you wanted to stop by before we set off?"

"No I believe we went everywhere I can think of visiting."

"I'm pleased to hear it, I'll show you where the Usapils are." With that Bluebell led Audrey out of the capital and into the fields. It took a bit over an hour to get to the general location where the monsters in question were. The duo was greeted to the sight of rabbit-like creatures that were on the fatter side compared to the vicious rabbit.

"These monsters should work as a way to help you become more used to shooting moving targets. I'll keep on guard to make sure none get too close to you."

Audrey swiftly summoned an arrow and fired it at one of the usapils which immediately died upon the arrow hitting its target.

Audrey saw the gained twenty seven exp while Bluebell gained twenty three. Overall the amount wasn't very sufficient for the bow hero herself but it would definitely help Bluebell level up at a decent enough pace for the time being.

For the next hour or so Audrey spent her time simply killing usapils to hone her archery skills via shooting one of them and intentionally waiting for the rest to turn their attention towards her so when they ran in her direction with the desire to retaliate they'd make for better moving targets.

While the process was simple due to the fact that the usapils only ran straight towards Audrey it still provided the bow hero with the method she needed to further refine her skill.

"So do you have a better feel for using the bow in battle."

"Compared to before I got here yes."

"Alright then how about we move on to another kind of target?"

"I'm all for it." Audrey replied before she went to strip down a few usapils for any potential bows she could unlock. Afterwards Bluebell led her to another area with a nearby forest.

"So what am I going to be shooting here?"

"A more mobile monster known as a hostile crow." Bluebell answered pointing to the monster in question.

Audrey looked in the direction that her teammate was pointing in and saw a monster that without a doubt resembled a crow, in fact the only notable difference between it and the more traditional one from her own world was that it had bright red eyes.

Appraising it Audrey saw it was around level seven and now that she thought about it she turned to see Bluebell for a moment and found she went up one level while Audrey was using usapils for target practice whilst the bow hero was still at level ten.

Turning to the monster in question Audrey took aim and let an arrow loose piercing the crow's chest and causing it to fall from the tree. "I was kind of hoping it would try to utilize its mobility so I could push myself." She mused before hearing a crow within the trees.

"You're about to have the opportunity." Bluebell replied standing a little ways in front of Audrey in case she was needed as another crow flow out of the tree leaves and straight after Audrey who quickly summoned another arrow before firing.

The crow in response diverted its course to the side and avoided the incoming projectile prompting Audrey to smile. A moving target that was intelligent enough to avoid her attacks if it was able to and that took to the air on top of having a smaller size.

If there was something that could really allow the bow hero to practice and push her skills to their limit this was it without a doubt. She'd definitely improve from this.

The hostile crow began circling around likely readying itself for another dive attack all the while Audrey had another arrow at the ready and lined up in the short in the shortest time span possible.

Once the crow flew at her once more with its talons at the ready Audrey steadied her shot on it while she waited for it to close the distance.

Once the crow was within an acceptable range Audrey let her arrow loose. This time the crow didn't have time to dodge the attack headed its way and its chest was pierced its chest.

"It looks like you're talented enough to perfect dealing with these creatures rather fast." Bluebell chimed.

"I simply waited until the Crow was too close to too anything when I shot in its direction. I'd like to make sure I'm able to shoot one of these birds while they're in flight and at a far enough distance."

"Well if that's how you feel we're gonna have to look for more hostile crows, do you really feel the need to take your training that far? You're already becoming better attuned to using your bow in battle."

"Maybe but I'd rather not be put in too many fights where I'm forced to let an enemy come in close since that presents a risk in and of itself, it may have worked so far but luck can run out at the worst time when you push it too far which is something I'd like to avoid." Audreu admitted in all honesty.

That tactic was something that may have worked with the vicious rabbit and in a manner of speaking the saber tooth black tiger but there were other factors that were coincidentally in Audrey's favor that played noticeable parts in both victories. Hell if not for her silver bow having enough of an attack boost to pierce the latter of the two monster's paw Audrey would have been dead.

She may have had an ally who was as of now handling the defenses and helping her with fights making her situation significantly better compared to what it previous was since the bow lost the support of the crown but that didn't mean she was going to start taking every unnecessary risk she could under the delusion that it wasn't a big deal or that the risk in question was harmless especially when the underlying reality was that she could die and her biggest priority was surviving.

"I see your point, anyway let us find more ho-" Bluebell suddenly stopped upon hearing another "caw." From the trees before another crow came out of the tree line targeting Bluebell who raised she newly obtained shield allow the hostile to ram into it head on leaving itself dazed as it fell to the ground providing bluebell the opening she needed to dispose of it with a swift thrust of her rapier to the monster's chest.

Audrey smiled at this since it showed that Bluebell had more competence than her original team provided by the king when it came to fighting off monsters.

"As I was about to suggest we should look for more hostile crows after you've stripped down ones you've already killed."

"I'll get this done as fast as I'm able to." Audrey announced as she proceeded to get to work unlocking all the possible bows and obtaining her second skill (or third if she counted whatever the locked skill from the saber tooth black tiger claw bow was) known as "scouting" which was level 1 out of 6 in the process.

Like the "quick dash" the name of her new skill was pretty much sounded rather self explanatory which was only further affirmed when Audrey looked up the information in her help screen when it confirmed that the skill was used to detect far away enemies but one detail Audrey didn't expect to be present was that she'd have to be at a high vantage point to use the said skill.

It was slightly inconvenient to have that type of restriction but thanks to her stats it would of simply matter of jumping atop a nearby tree and…

Audrey face palmed before groaning in annoyance at what she finally realized that she had been overlooking during this entire practice session.

"Is something up?"

"I just realized there was something else I need to work on while I have time or maybe two."

"Which are shooting while I'm moving and jumping through the air."

Bluebell sweatdropped upon hearing this. "Are you sure you're not over doing it?"

"Yeah, besides we only got so much time to prepare for the wave."

"How much exactly?"

"Not sure."

"Haven't you gone to register at the dragon hourglass?"

Audrey gave bluebell a confused look.

"You are aware of the dragon hourglass aren't you? The king surely would have mentioned it when you and the other hours were summoned."

"I think he mentioned something about it moving before but what does- it shows how much time we have until the next wave hits doesn't it?"

"After you've registered at it yes."

"Well then we'll have to stop by when we get the chance." With that Audrey collected the rest of her spoils from her kills before the pair moved on to part pf the forested area.

For the next couple of hours Audrey spent her time bettering her shooting skills in different scenarios which most of she got a decent enough feel with the only area still giving real trouble being performing a high jump utilizing her stats and shooting while still in midair all the while Bluebell stood at the ready to protect her if an enemy looked like they were getting in too close.

Along the way she decided to utilize her quick dash skill as a hostile crow tried to attack her and as expected she gained a major burst of speed which in turn allowed her to zip to the side a set distance dodging the crows attack before following up with her own.

"Now that I've tested the only skill I can utilize during the course of a fight out there's just one more thing left to do."

"What would that be?" Bluebell asked.

"Utilizing a method I have to power up my individual skills."

"You're able to do that?!" Bluebell inquired now going into her enthusiastic mode.

"Yeah, by sacrificing a number of monster drops I can level up different skills I've unlocked, the only catch is it's going to take up a large amount of material to level a single skill up even if it's just by one level."

"I see."

"Still it'll help me strengthen my weapon that much more." Audrey said as she sacrificed the required amount which was more than half of her overall spoils just to increase the skill to level two.

**Quick dash Lv 2/15 distance + 3**

So if the level increased the far the burst of speed would take her. The boost might have been minimal but it was still something.

"We should head back before it gets dark, we have no camping equipment to use for the night."

"Alright." Audrey replied before looking at Bluebell's level. The female sword wielder had reached level nine and Audrey level twelve before they both began the trek back to the capitol.

Once the two arrived back in the city, the duo headed in the direction of the church Audrey remembered seeing it once on her first day but back then she didn't bother to do much more than glance at it long enough to make it what the building was used for but now taking the time to examine it she was met with a sight that only reminded her of Naofumi's situation.

At the top of the roof of the said church was a cross shaped statue but that wasn't what caught her attention. What did was at both ends and the top of the cross were a sword spear and bow symbolizing who the church worshipped.

And more so to the point what they didn't if the lack of a shield was of any indication. While these people might worship the very ground Audrey (and the two heroes she could barely care less about) walked on she wasn't particularly eager to be involved with them in any way since they like the crown were likely against Naofumi in a lot of ways when their views were taken into consideration.

The question was whether or not the religious officials were going to try to undermine Naofumi by refusing to allow him to register or in some other form? Audrey truly hoped they wouldn't, things were already bad enough with the crown going out of its way to ensure he failed so the church jumping on the anti shield bandwagon wouldn't help matters but she knew that odds were extremely high that they would if they were ever provided the opportunity.

Luckily and perhaps unluckily the building seemed to be closed down meaning the Bow hero could hold off any involvement with them for the time being which was something that could be thought of as a personal plus since she didn't want to meet with any of them.

The problem was she needed to register sooner rather than later so the oncoming wave didn't catch her off guard so she really couldn't afford to put it off for an excessive amount of time.

"It seems we'll have to come by tomorrow." Bluebell mused.

"I've noticed." Audrey sighed. "I'm really hoping that there aren't any complications when the time comes."

"The church is generally open to the public so there shouldn't be any problems with gaining entry."

"Good. I'd like to get it done without any delays."

With that the pair began heading back to the city inn. After the two arrived they purchased a single room with two beds to save money.

With a day of training underbelt Audrey truly felt she'd be able to fight with more ease, still there was a long list of things that she needed to get done down the road.

Whatever came however she just really hoped that the hindrances and complications wouldn't pile up any further.

* * *

**Alright that's another ch down. Sorry that not much happened in this chapter but there wasn't really much I could do in terms of potential action I pretty much just used this ch to confirm a few anticipations from reviewers.**

**As was pointed out Naofumi's trauma from the trial has indeed been reduced thanks to Audrey's actions though that being said he's still going to be wary of people around him.**

**As for Naofumi's party well in spite of some suggestions I got it's pretty much going to stay the same as in cannon.**

**And to fellow Motoyasu haters, I'm well aware of what happens to Rino and wow that was just f...ed up beyond all measures and let"s just say to those who wish to see the spear hero truly pay for all the $#!+ he does well I won't give away spoilers, but you won't be disappointed since I personally don't see Motoyasu in any better light than I see bitch and trash manipulated or not basically I DOWNRIGHT HATE THE SOB probably more than most. As for why, I'll elaborate on it in future author's notes**

**And also as a lot of people were asking about this Audrey does have a power up method which is similar to Ren's which if I remember correctly converts monster drops to energy to strengthen different weapon variants but the difference in Audrey's method is that it focuses on individual skills via leveling them up rather than the different weapons. Also it uses a lot of materials and I mean A LOT so neither she nor Noafumi are going to be able to max out their skill levels in the blink of an eye.**

**And one more thing. To those who suggested I play monster hunter world to get more ideas about various bow for Audrey I likely will get the game for that very reason but first I'd just like confirmation that the bows in it are actually bow and arrows. Feel free to laugh at this but I purchased iceborn hoping to get ideas from that one only to find out it had bowguns instead which really aren't gonna work until far and I mean FAR later on in the story so the main purpose of me getting it was kind of nullified.**


	5. True extent of the waves

**Here's the fifth ch of unwavering heart first I want to thank all those you gave suggestions on what kind of bows to give Audrey it'll definitely help down the line.**

**Anyway I hope you're all ready to encounter the first wave of the story because it's not going to play out the same way that it does in cannon.**

* * *

A roar sounded throughout the air as a saber tooth black leopard lunged at Audrey prompting the bow hero to leap into the air allowing the monster to pass underneath her whilst she quickly summoned and shot three arrows in quick succession into the leopard's back causing it to screech in agony before Bluebell ran up beside it and stuck her rapier through its neck killing the monster right then and there.

**Audrey exp 71**

**Bluebell exp 117**

"Well it looks like that's the last of the monsters in the area." Bluebell announced.

"Meaning the mission we took on is complete." Audrey replied before using her scouting skill upon jumping atop the branch of one of the taller trees in the immediate area and making sure that was the case before following up saying "let's head back." After her skill confirmed there were indeed no more monsters in the area.

"Okay." Bluebell replied before glancing at a notification she received. "Well it looks like I made it to level twenty seven. How about yourself?"

Audrey checked her status screen.

**Audrey Alethea level 29**

**Weapon: legendary bow "locked"**

**Equipment: leather armor: defense up(small) enchanted amulet: fire resistance (very small) slash resistance (small) Hp restoration (very low)**

**Hp: 1029/1236**

**Sp: 523/654**

**Sta:201**

**Def: 67**

**Agi: 358**

**Dex: 291**

**Skills: quick dash lv3, scouting lv1, transport bow lv1**

"I made it to level twenty nine." Audrey answered. It was only one level but it counted, every status boost counted, even the smallest contribution meant a better chance at surviving the upcoming wave.

It had been a week and a half since Audrey and Bluebell began working as a party. In that time Audrey refined her skills when it came to using the bow in a fight to the point where she could now do so with great ease and leveled up all while unlocking more bow variants from any new monsters she fought in the process but so far save for the new skill "transport bow" she only got stat boost out of the deal.

On top of all that she purchased a few basic books that Bluebell recommended so that she could begin to learn reading this kingdom's language. It was unsurprisingly proving to be something of a struggle to accomplish but in spite of that she was making some progress even if it was only a little at a time so it was a start, she was just barely able to make out basic words. However a part of her did wish that she could speed things up a little more so she could learn item recipes along with magic as well as level up her quick dash skill even further.

Bluebell had informed Audrey before that she'd be able to learn magic instantaneously if she used specialized crystal balls but the trade off was that she'd never be able to improve on them. Since that was the case Audrey decided she'd rather learn them from books so she could truly understand the ins and outs of the individual spells she learned so she had the payoff of being able to improve them instead of utilizing the easy way only for it to potentially come back and bite her later on down the road.

The only thing that didn't turn into a long term goal was registering at the dragon hourglass thank god though Audrey really could have done without meeting the nun watching over the place at the time.

_Flashback_

_Audrey and bluebell entered the church with the former wanting to simply be done with this business within the absolute shortest timespan possible. Hopefully without meeting any religious officials considering what their viewpoint likely was when it came to the four heroes._

_Unfortunately for the bow hero a middle aged nun that was walking by took notice of her and approached. "I didn't know we would be graced by a visit from one of the three heroes."_

_And that confirmed the church's view when it came to Naofumi considered the nun said "three heroes"._

_Repressing a groan of annoyance Audrey replied. "I'm here to register at this dragon hourglass so I can tell when the wave is coming."_

_"Of course, right this way." The nun said leading Audrey and Bluebell further inside the church to another room._

_It seemed Audrey was receiving fair treatment from the church at least. Perhaps they didn't hold the fact that she sided with Naofumi at the trial against her? The king certainly did which he made clear when he decided she would no longer receive monthly funds and the citizens while they didn't do anything to actively decimate against her like they were doing to Naofumi they were whispering about how they couldn't fathom why she would associate with the shield hero considering his (fabricated) crime and that she should have had more sense._

_Within the other room was an hourglass that was somewhere around three meters long with gold dragon shaped ornaments wrapping around it. The hourglass had four sections instead of the traditional two but what stood out the most was the blood red colored sand inside giving the hourglass itself a rather ominous feel._

_For a moment Audrey was about to ask how she was supposed to go about registering before a notification appeared in her HUD._

**Register at this location? [Yes/no]**

_'Well that answers what I was about to ask.' Audrey thought before selecting "yes"._

**Registration complete**

**Next wave: 11:17:40:29**

_"So did you manage to register here?" Bluebell inquired._

_"Looks like it, I have a new timer showing in my HUD." The bow hero replied._

_"I see. How much time do we have before the second wave arrives?"_

_"Around a week and a half, eleven days if you want more exact estimates."_

_"I'm glad we still have more time to prepare."_

_"We'll have to make sure that we make the most of it."_

_"That goes without saying."_

_Audrey turned to the nun. "Thank you for letting me register here."_

_"Of course, humanity needs the protection of the three holy heroes in order to save it from the waves of catastrophe."_

_"Alright I'll be heading out then." Audrey announced as both she and Bluebell turned in the direction of the building's entrance before the nun interrupted their attempt to depart._

_"Before you leave lady Audrey I have one more gift to give you."_

_The bow hero resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow before it clicked in her mind that the church wasn't trying to be fair they were trying to suck up to Audrey in the same manner the adventures provided by the king did. All things considered it really shouldn't have been surprising at this point. Whether it derived from being blind in their religious faith or the hospitality was simply another form of false flattery was hard to say. Either way Audrey was a bit wary of this offer, on one hand she really didn't want any involvement with the church, on the other whatever the gift was in question might help her and those close to her survive this entire ordeal with the waves._

_"Okay."_

_Upon hearing this the nun smiled and produced a small vial containing a red powder like substance. Audrey was momentarily confused by this until she realized what the substance in question actually was upon being handed the vial. "Sand from the hourglass." She mused._

_"Precisely, this sand will bestow you with an ability that will further help you safeguard all of humanity."_

_"I'll be sure to make use of it."_

_"I'm pleased to know that but….." The nun's smile faded. "While it is pleasing to hear your words there is one more thing myself and many others including the king were hoping for."_

_"I'm listening." Audrey replied having a feeling she wasn't going to like where this conversation was going especially when that shitty excuse of a king was mentioned._

_"You should come to your senses and repent in your beliefs."_

_Now even Bluebell was growing uncomfortable with how this was playing out whilst the nun continued._

_"You must realize that the shield demon is evil, he doesn't deserve your compassion. The crown will once again support you in your endeavors providing you with everything you'll need and far more."_

_Audrey stared at the nun with a look of indifference whilst repressing a look of disgust from surfacing. So this was the church's goal, they wanted to manipulate Audrey by tempting her with the resources she would have of she would fall in line the way Ren and Motoyasu have._

_"Maybe so but I don't need the crown's help, I can take care of myself." Audrey said before turning to leave the church along with Bluebell._

_End_

"Hopefully this is good enough to stand up to the wave." Bluebell said earning a look of confusion from Audrey.

"I thought you would have a more positive outlook than that."

"In most situations I would but the waves are an entirely different matter from the monster's we faced so far."

Audrey's expression became more tense. "Are the waves really that powerful?"

"Yes, when the king informed you that the knights could barely hold the last wave back he wasn't lying."

"Is there any detail you give to paint a more accurate picture of what we're going to be dealing with."

"Only a few things, first was that the first wave appeared at one of the few demihuman settlements destroying it in the process."

Audrey listened intently in silence as her companion continued.

"Local adventures and a few villagers did what they could to hold the wave back but the onslaught of monsters was unending. By the time the knights actually arrived the village was already destroyed and most of those who lived there were either dead or forced to flee."

"And then what happened?"

"From what I heard, the knights had a hard time holding the wave back with more than half of their forces being lost in the process. The wave only came to an end when they brought down a monster that was significantly stronger than the rest."

That last part caught Audrey's attention. If the wave was stopped when the strongest monster was put down did that mean that it was a boss type? If so did the rest of the waves work the same way?

"Rumor has it that the knights were barely able to bring the monster down and they were only able to accomplish it because the monster was already weakened before hand."

"Meaning that if the upcoming wave works the same way there'll be an exceptionally strong monster we'll have to take down in order to end the wave." Audrey mused harboring mixed feelings about this new information.

On one hand assuming the info was indeed accurate it meant that Audrey now had an idea about how to bring the wave to an end meaning she wouldn't just be left so far in the dark that she'd be forced to simply fight the wave endlessly until she either got lucky or somehow figured everything out during the fight.

On the other hand it also meant that whatever the boss creature was that it was not going to be any type of pushover, it could very likely make for a hard pressed fight which wasn't something Audrey was eager for since it meant the risk to her life would be very high and her highest priority was her survival as well as that of those close to her.

Perhaps she could leave it to the other heroes? Maybe not, two of them were insistent on believing everything to be a game which meant that neither of them were taking the situation seriously which could easily lead to them underestimating the danger the world posed too much and losing their lives as a result and Noafumi was at another disadvantage altogether thanks to the crown's efforts to oppress him and keep him from leveling up properly. While the idea of the sword and spear heroes dying did not appal Audrey all that much since Ren wasn't someone she particularly cared for and when it came to Motoyasu, to put it vaguely his death wouldn't be one that Audrey would ever grieve especially after what he pulled at the trial.

But Naofumi she could say without a doubt that she did not wish to see him lose his life, but she wasn't entirely sure she could protect him from that fate. Things would be a lot easier if it wasn't for the whole weapon interference factor Audrey could simply be in the same party as the shield hero and they could level up together but the reality was that beyond giving him any materials she found from the more exceptionally strong monsters all she would ultimately forced to entrust his fate in the hands a child.

The bow hero truly hoped that Naofumi and Raphtalia were both okay but for time being she had her own priorities to focus on.

"However powerful the wave might be we've leveled up as much as we were able to and refined our skills as a team and individually so it has to count for something." Bluebell said.

"You're right." Audrey said smiling at her companion's reassurance of the situation. While there was no telling how dangerous the wave would truly be it went without saying that the duo had a few cards up their own sleeves and held a better chance than any run of the mill soldier the kingdom had. "Guess the best thing we can do in the meantime is return to the guild and give them our report then up with Erhard and get better equipment for you."

"What about yourself? You need whatever defense boost you can get."

"I'll look into it some other time." Audrey said. Even though she couldn't deny Bluebell's claim, the truth was she wasn't sure what type armor she should go for. The situation with her budget had become better since she and Bluebell were able to take on various freelance jobs from the local guild to make money which was what the duo had been doing just now when they were clearing monsters out of the area, still she needed something that would effectively boost her stats, not hinder her best asset which was her agility, and not cause too much of a dent in her finances.

Bluebell sighed. "Ok but please don't put it off too long."

"I won't."

With that the two headed back to the capital and from there the guild after Audrey used a healing potion to restore her health. "So you're back. I assume you two succeeded?" The owner of the building asked.

"Yeah." Audrey said pulling out some material from the saber tooth black cat as proof that she indeed carried out the mission.

"Good, the apothecary owner will be grateful that they're able to gather herbs again." The owner replied giving Audrey the reward of seventy silver coins.

"Come again when you need more work." The owner announced as the duo left the establishment.

Audrey was more than a little grateful for the guild's existence since it meant she had her own means to make money without the support of the crown. Still it felt surreal for the establishment to be there since many of the jobs that involved guard duties, taking out certain monsters, and collecting certain materials, basically tasks you'd typically find in a standard RPG type game setting which prompted the bow hero to remind herself that the world she was residing in was real.

The only thing she really didn't like about the guild was that those working there as well as the various adventurers who took on the various jobs had bought into the rumors about Naofumi much like everyone else aside from Erhard, in fact Audrey even heard a rumor that Naofumi had initially tried to find work there only to be refused by the owner and forced out of the place by the adventures.

Hearing about this a part of Audrey wanted to make the owner and adventures pay for their mistreatment towards the shield hero but ultimately she couldn't since she needed the work the place offered to make money and she didn't have the slightest inkling as to who the adventurers in question were.

"So any idea what type of new gear you believe I might need?" Bluebell inquired.

"Well in my opinion I think a new rapiar might be in order since now that you've leveled up your current one is dulling at a rather fast pace."

Bluebell glanced at her weapon and sighed. "I've noticed." The rapiar Bluebell was currently using was the same one she had since she had began fighting alongside the bow hero and the weapon had indeed started to dull at an abnormal pace, in fact the duo had just paid Erhard to resharpen the blade two days ago and it already had chips in the side and she could already tell the tip was dulling thanks to the effort she was forced to exert when killing the final monster on their previous job.

Audrey recalled what Erhard had told her and Naofumi about using weapons that matched the user's level and his explanation about what would happen if someone tried to use one that was either below or above their current level. Seeing the state of her teammate's weapon the bow hero could tell that Erhard wasn't joking.

"While we're on the subject let's look into getting a new shield for you."

Bluebell shot Audrey a curious glance. "Are you sure? My current shield is still holding up just fine."

"Yeah I want to make any preparation for the wave we can while we still have time." Audrey answered.

During the time the two had spent preparing for the waves. Bluebell had since switched out her wooden shield for a buckler which was still holding up well but regardless her playing the role of a tank was far from being Bluebell's specialty but she currently had to fill the role until Audrey could find someone more suited to it since her partner had better defense than the bow hero herself.

Still at the very least Audrey could make certain that her teammate had every advantage she could possibly get.

"If you insist." Bluebell conceded whilst thinking. 'But it would be wiser if you also got better armor for yourself.'

While the two of them were on their way Audrey decided to check the hourglass timer she had in her HUD to see how much time was left before the wave.

**00:01:12:43**

The bow hero let out a sigh which didn't go unnoticed by Bluebell. "I assume you just checked how much time we have left?"

"Yeah. We got a little over an 1 hour."

"I see."

Within the next few minutes the two reached Erhard's place which they had immediately entered and greeted with the sight of Naofumi seemingly being chewed out by a young woman just barely into her adult years.

"Master Naofumi that's all well and good but if you don't start worrying about your own wellbeing you're going…." The woman in question pulled a sword laying on the counter out of its sheath before holding the blade in front of her whilst narrowing her eyes at Naofumi. "To die." she warned.

Naofumi just sighed before glancing at the open doorway to see who came in. "Audrey?"

Audrey was about to greet the shield hero but the lady who was previously chastising him spoke up first. "Lady Audrey its so good to see you again after all this time!"

"Um I'm sorry, who are-" Audrey Stopped in mid sentence when she got a closer look at the other lady in question. She had features like that of a demi human but what really caught the bow hero's attention was how familiar her ears and tail looked. "Raphtalia?"

"Of course, don't you recognize me?"

Audrey sweat dropped. "Well it's not so much that I forgot what you look like but…."

"I'm guessing that you're as far in the dark as your fellow hero about how the bodies of demi humans work." Erhard stated seeing how confused Audrey was with this entire situation.

It wasn't so much that Raptallia's overall appearance had changed it was just that she was now much older to the point of just about being around the same age group as Noafumi and Audrey herself when the last time the latter had checked she wasn't even in her teens which begged the obvious question.

How on earth did Raphtallia go from a mere child to being fully grown in a merely close to two weeks? "Apparently." Audrey admitted.

"Well if you're wondering why the shield hero's partner ain't such a pipsqueak anymore it's because of her current level."

"What do you mean?"

Raphtalia decided to answer in the weapons shop owner's place. "You see when we level up as children our body rapidly matures to match our level."

"So basically you went from being a child to an adult in a really short timespan because you leveled up?"

"Yes."

Audrey took a quick moment to appraise Raphtalia and saw that she had it up to level twenty two before glancing at Naofumi and discovering he was up to level nineteen.

Personally she had hoped that Naofumi's level would be higher or at least around her own but considering what Myne and the crown had been pulling since summoning the heroes it couldn't be helped. At the very least Naofumi was on track when it came to getting stronger.

"Ok that's...surprising. But that aside what exactly are you two arguing about?" Audrey inquired.

Naofumi opened his mouth to answer only to be beaten to it by his companion when she reacted faster. "So get this, master Naofumi brought me here to buy new gear for me."

"Okay. I think he's just thinking about your wellbeing."

"And I appreciate the thought but he needs to take better care of himself before he loses his life."

Bluebell sighed upon hearing that particular statement which Erhard did not fail to notice. "Something wrong young lady?"

"No, it's just I found out that lady Audrey is not the only hero who is being reckless with their life."

Raphtalia's ears practically twitched once Bluebell had finished that sentence and Erhard managed to snag her attention when he spoke up next.

"It started to sound like your hero hasn't learned from what happened on her first day."

"What do you mean?"

"When her and the other heroes first started heading out to fight monsters and level up the bow hero came back with a bloody arm which I had to patch up for her."

"For your information I do carry healing potions on me now so I can use them when the need arises."

Bluebell groaned. "Be that as it may you and the shield hero from the sound of what Raphtalia told us about him should both get new gear yourselves."

"I told you I'll look into it in the future."

Raphtalia pointed an accusatory finger at Audrey. "That's not acceptable, you're acting just like master Naofumi."

"I'm fine with what I have."

"I highly doubt that! I've noticed the tears in your gear." The racoon demihuman pointed out causing Erhard to scrutinize Audrey and confirm what Raphtalia had said.

"You had a few close calls haven't you?"

Audrey became embarrassed. "Well I mean not so much today….."

Bluebell chose this time to put her two cents forward. "She's not so reckless as if to run blindly at every monster but she does tend to occasionally find herself under attack. Today we luckily didn't run into any enemy that was significantly stronger than us."

"Have you since pairing up and forming a party?"

"No but Audrey did have a close call with a monster right before I met her, I ended having to use I high quality potion to heal her injury."

Raphtalia narrowed her eyes at the bow hero. "It sounds like another reason why you like master Naofumi need to get new gear."

"She right you know." Bluebell chimed in causing Raphtalia to shoot Audrey an expectant look who in turn could do little more than sigh in defeat when she realized that Raphtalia was more than a little determined to get her point across.

"What do you have available?" Audrey inquired to the shop owner.

"For the shield hero I have a set of chainmail….."

"No." Naofumi immediately said drawing a confused look from everyone present. "No chainmail." The shield hero said before looking away with a pained expression.

Audrey was about to ask Naofumi what he had against chainmail before she recalled the trail and more so the theft that Myne and Motoyasu committed against him and realized that chainmail only brought the memories back to the surface.

Erhard sighed before scratching the back of his head. "Well in that case the next two best things would be a full set of plate armor or a special custom order."

Both heroes glanced at one of the plate armor sets and saw that it would definitely be a major step up from what the shield hero currently had in terms of defense but the problem was that it would hinder his movement and mobility.

"I think I'll go with a custom order. I'd like something that won't make it hard to move around."

"Alright I'll be able to come up with something but you need to provide the materials."

"That won't be a problem." With that Naofumi produced numerous pieces of ore. "Can you work these into something I can use?"

"Yep, these'll work, it'll take two days however and I'll expect payment when it's done."

"Alright."

Erhard turned to Audrey. "So what type of gear does our lady hero want?"

"Something that's along the same line as what Naofumi is going for in terms of not slowing since my best asset in a fight is my agility while getting whatever boost I can in my defense since admittedly I need it even more so than he does.

Naofumi placed a hand on his chin. "Now that I think of it I remember telling you me at one point that your defense was your weakness."

This caused Raphtalia to face palm. "It's starting to sound like you're actually even more reckless than master Naofumi."

"Like I said before, I carry healing potions."

"You need to take better care of yourself." Came the tanuki demi human's rebuttal.

Audrey sighed before turning back to Erhard. "So what do you have available?"

"Nothing matching what you want at the moment unless you yourself want the chainmail I was about to offer the shield hero, otherwise the best I can do is a custom order like with the shield hero or refit your current armor with a stronger material.

"Then it looks like the latter of those two other options you offered is what I'll be going with."

"Alright but it'll take around an entire day to do."

"That'll be fine. I'll drop my gear off tomorrow."

"You should do so now while you have the chance." Raphtalia said.

"The wave is going to come in another hour so I don't have time right now."

Upon hearing Noafumi's eyes widened considerably. "How do you know?"

"Let's head to the church, now." Audrey said confusing the japanese college student

"What why?"

"We need to get you registered at the dragon hourglass so you can see how close the wave is to arriving."

"We're able to do that?"

"Hasn't anyone told you? You can register at this country's dragon hourglass so you can see when the next wave's coming." Ehard informed Naofumi who simply sighed.

"Nobody's told me anything like that until now."

"Considering everything's the king's pulled so far it's not surprising, I only found out thanks to Bluebell." Audrey said before turning to Bluebell. "Please hurry and find a weapon that'll help you in the upcoming fight."

"I've already decided on one." Bluebell replied as she took a rapiar with a cross shaped handguard off the rack along with an iron shield which she took to the desk.

"So you're going with magic coated steel huh? Along with the iron shield the cost is going to come up to one hundred and seventy five silver coins."

Audrey immediately produced the said amount and handed it to Erhard before selling Bluebell's old weapons for forty silver coins and turning her attention back to the shield hero. "Let's hurry to church."

"Right."

With that both parties left the establishment and headed for their next destination. Audrey had hoped her previous visit to the church would be her last and in all honesty she didn't even want to bring Naofumi there considering the church's views on him for being the hero of the shield but unfortunately there wasn't much of a choice.

At the very least the bow hero had hoped that she wouldn't encounter anyone she didn't want to this time, there was already enough on her plate having to fight off the wave that would soon show up as well as having to likely see the other two heroes which certainly didn't help matters.

Thinking back on everything that had happened up until now did nothing to increase Audrey's lacking enthusiasm about this entire ordeal in fact a part of her found herself questioning why she had to fight to protect any of these people when they went out of their way to backstab one of the very people they needed.

Of course there was one obvious answer which was that it was for the sake of her and her friends' survival but even still were the people of this kingdom really even worth saving?

"Is this the place?" Naofumi asked with a scowl present on his face as the group arrived and he looked at the symbol which lacked a shield.

"Yeah."

"Let's get this over with." Naofumi said as the group went inside.

Much to Audrey's relief there was no one present at the moment making it easier to lead her fellow hero to the dragon hourglass itself without any unwanted delays. "This is it."

"It kind of creeps me out with the red sand."

Audrey perked up upon hearing that. "On yeah that reminds me, Naofumi after your done registering have something to give you."

"Alright, and on that note I also have stuff I've been saving for you. One second."

After taking a few moments to register at the hourglass Naofumi glanced at the new timer within his peripheral vision.

**00:00:51:41**

'It looks like Audrey was right.' Naofumi thought before he opened his item inventory to find the materials he had been saving for her however before he could produce them…

"Oh is that really you Audrey?!" A voice belonging to someone that neither of them really wanted to see.

Turning to the entrance of the room everyone was greeted to the sight of the hero of the spear, along with him was the hero of the sword as well as both of their own respective parties and amongst them was the person that besides the king the bow and shield heroes hated most, Myne Sophia.

"So what have you been up to?" Motoyasu asked the bow hero.

"Simply leveling up as much as I could."

"I see, so you're level twenty nine? Well you're better off than Naofumi but you might want to sit out the wave so you don't get hurt, there's no need to worry, I'll protect you."

Audrey groaned in annoyance. Seriously did this son of a bitch seriously believe he could fool her into believing he was the equivalent to your stereotypical knight in shining armor after he casted his lot with the king and Myne during the trial, just how conceited could he get?

"I'll decide on my own what I do when the wave shows up."

Ren chose this moment to speak up. "Yeah well you and Naofumi better not slow us down."

Audrey shot Ren a short glare but beyond that said nothing though she had to admit that the sword hero's sense of self superiority was becoming increasingly annoying but once again Motoyasu was proving to be the worst of the two by a very large margin when he turned his attention to the shield hero.

"Don't tell you're seriously intending to fight with such cheap gear, how desperate can you be?"

Naofumi stayed silent and walked toward the entrance prompting Myne to jump in the conversation. "Hey lord Motoyasu is talking to you."

Naofumi just continued towards the exit until Motoyasu finally took notice of Raphtalia. "So cute." He chimed before he stepped in front the racoon girl clasping her hands.

"Hello I'm Motoyasu Kitamora, the hero of the spear. Might I know your name?"

"Um it's Raphtalia."

Myne looked over towards Motoyasu with her expression souring for once. "Lord Motoyasu, why are you admiring a filthy demihuman?!" She demanded only to be ignored by Motoyasu as he continued ogling Raphtalia until he noticed her weapon strapped to her hip.

"You have a sword? That won't do, come with me and I'll protect you from here on out."

Upon hearing both the shield and bow hero grew visibly annoyed.

Raphtalia yanked her hands free from the spear hero's before backing away from him. "I am the shield hero's sword."

Motoyasu eyes widened upon hearing this. "You mean you're with Naofumi of all people?!"

"Yes."

The spear hero made another attempt to grab Raphtalia but she was quick to react backing up out of his reach.

"You need to leave him now, nothing good will come of you staying by his side!" Motoyasu exclaimed.

"I am sworn to fight by his side."

"But he's the scum of the earth, you'll be in danger if you stay with the shield so just leave him and come with me already."

Motoyasu was about to make another grab for Raphtalia before Naofumi stepped between the two much to the spear hero's chagrin. "Get out of the way Naofumi."

"How about you back off?"

"And leave her with a criminal like you? Not happening!" Motoyasu declared before Audrey walked up beside Naofumi and grabbed his hand.

"Bluebell, Raphtalia common we're leaving." She announced whilst pulling Naofumi towards the entrance of the church whilst their companions followed.

The bow hero had simply wanted to end the entire right then and there but unfortunately Motoyasu had other plans. "Why are you still siding with Naofumi? You know he's only a worthless shielder and that he's going to do the same thing to you that he did to Myne and he'll do it to Raphtalia too."

"Because I know who the real scum of the earth are and also you're not fooling me with your little act." She shot back.

"How am I putting on an act? If anyone's doing that it's Naofumi, both you and Raphtalia need to stop letting him fool you."

Audrey felt her resentment towards Motoyasu boil over. First he takes advantage of the trial to steal the chainmail that rightfully belonged to Naofumi and went joined the king and Myne in framing him, then he tries to take the first true party member that Naofumi has simply so he could make her part of his harem and now he was seriously trying to convince Audrey that Naofumi was the bad person in all this? Just how far was this guy going to go to hurt Naofumi?

Did he simply think that anyone and anything Naofumi had was his for the taking? Considering how he zeroed in on Raphtalia of all people it was safe to assume the answer was yes, granted Raphtalia was undoubtedly beautiful but so were the woman in Ren's party as well as Bluebell but Motoyasu didn't seem to notice them, his only interests were Raphtalia and Audrey herself if his continued attempts at convincing her to turn her back on the shield hero was anything to go by.

Before Audrey came to this world she actually actually doubted she would meet a guy that was actually worse than the one who all but ruined her high school days but boy did the hero of the spear managed to prove her completely and utterly wrong.

Audrey positioned her hands to summon her bow from her back to them but before she could do so she felt someone gently place their hand over her own causing her to glance in their direction to see it was none other than Naofumi who shook his head.

Seeing this Audrey calmed herself down enough to think straight and realize that as terrible of a person as Motoyasu was he wasn't the enemy though at this point Audrey had a hard time seeing him as an ally but still the wave was about to come and that was what they needed to worry about for the moment.

"Let's just go." Naofumi said before he and the others left leaving the other two heroes and their parties alone.

Motoyasu just stared at the entrance as they left before growling. "Dammit why can't Audrey see that I'm only trying to protect her from the monster? And now that other girl won't leave him either."

Myne placed a hand on Motoyasu's shoulder. "Don't worry lord Motoyasu I'm sure the bow hero and that other girl will see you for how amazing you are in the future."

"Yeah, I just gotta show them that I'm the one they should be with."

"Of course you are." Myne said encouraging the spear hero's belief in himself though in reality she didn't care for it in the least.

It was rather hilarious how easy it was to manipulate the spear hero, Myne had done so with other people in the past but Motoyasu by far had been the easiest, so much so that Myne didn't even have to put much effort into it.

When it came to the two girls Motoyasu had his eyes on Myne didn't care for the bow hero anymore, if anything she simply hoped the bow hero would fall along with the shield hero to the waves.

And has for the other girl….well assuming she didn't die off during the upcoming wave only being at level twenty two Myne would arrange for the girl to be taken away and maybe sold on the slave market to make some money off of her. She may have been nothing but a lowly demi but at least she'd be worth a decent enough amount of money as a potential sex slave for numerous masters.

XXXXX

"Thanks for stopping me." Audrey said once the two parties were away from the church earning a shrug from the hero of the shield.

"We didn't have time to be fighting with that clown when the wave is about to show up." Naofumi said.

"Yeah I figured as much."

After letting out a sigh of exasperation at what had previously transpired at the church Naofumi produced three different materials and proceeded to show them to Audrey "Here these particular materials should help you out a good bit." Naofumi said confusing Audrey a bit.

One of the materials looked to be a chunk of meat likely from a monster of some kind but what really threw the bow hero off were the other two which were a piece of pipe and rope.

She figured the monster meat would likely give her a good status boost but the rope and pipe would likely be minimal at best still it would count in the long run so she was definitely grateful, but a part of her couldn't help but wonder why Naofumi would make it sound like they were especially valuable in terms of potential weapon variants they might unlock.

"The meat is from a two headed dog that Raphtalia took down on her first day and the pipe and rope both unlocked two new skills for me when I unlocked the corresponding shields so I thought that they do the same for you."

"I see." So that was it. The two materials aside from the dog meat would potentially give her new skills. If they did do so then Audrey at least hoped that they would help her directly in a fight, she had the quick dash skill which allowed her to utilize an effective dodging method when her normal reflexes weren't enough on their own but the bow hero wanted something that would give her a new offensive option.

She may have become an exceptional archer in battle thanks to her training but at the moment beyond equipping the silver bow for an attack boost she didn't have any method of attack aside from using run of the mil arrows she summoned. "Alright thanks."

"Think of them as repayment for the help you've given me."

Audrey absorbed all three materials and unlocked the following bow variants and was surprised by what she saw on her status screen.

**Rope bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: agi + 5 def + 1**

**Equip effect: rope ensnare**

**Skills: chain arrow lv 1/10**

**Pipe bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus agi + 3 atk + 4**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: rain arrow lv 1/15**

**Two headed dog bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: atk + 20**

**Equip effect: dog bite **

**Skills: none**

Audrey had to admit this was very pleasing, she finally had more skills at her disposal and the two headed dog bow gave her a nice attack boost on top of an equip bonus that could prove useful.

"Did they help?"

"Yes." Audrey answered with a smile before pulling out the remainder of the red sand she still had left from unlocked her transport bow. "And before I forget I meant to give you this."

Taking the vial from the bow hero Naofumi inspected the contents before raising an eyebrow. "Is this sand from the dragon hourglass?"

"Yeah. One of the nuns gave it to me the last time I went there to register myself, it gives us the ability to mark up to three places we have been to before and teleport there when we feel the need."

"That'll definitely make things easier down the road."

"I thought so too though I haven't really had the chance to use it just yet."

"You haven't been traveling around a lot?" The shield hero asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Not really, since it's just me and Bluebell I've mainly just been taking on freelance jobs around the field and occasional caves fighting off monsters."

"I thought you would have been to more places."

"I very likely would have if my position was better." Audrey admitted.

While she didn't plan on staying near the capitol forever the bow hero at least wanted to make sure she had better mode of transportation or at least more companions before she ever started traveling throughout the land and maybe even leave this terrible excuse of a kingdom terrible excuse for good preferably along with Naofumi if she ever got the opportunity to do the latter.

"Well if you're ever interested there's a nearby town called Lute, you can find some decent ore there."

"Alright, thanks."

With the conversation done Naofumi turned to walk away wearing a downcasted expression. Audrey didn't fail to notice this but remained silent.

She could easily guess why Naofumi's mood was so gloomy, that run in with the other two heroes along with that lying cunt Myne only served to dig up bad memories and it didn't help that the spear hero had blatantly tried to take the only companion Naofumi had simply out of the combination of his own ego and carnal desires.

Audrey wanted to say something to try console Naofumi but she wasn't sure what she could tell him. Even if she redeclared her resolve to always be on his side like she did after the trial the underlying truth that would always remain no matter how much time passed was that it could only amount to so much even if Audrey didn't want to accept it. What Naofumi needed was someone who could truly fight alongside him through all of his endeavors to let him know that they'd always be with him through these hard times.

"Master Naofumi." Raphtalia called out suddenly causing everyone to look at her whilst she stared at Naofumi with a resolute look in her eyes.

"Back when I lost everything and had no hope. You saved me and gave me a purpose, a new reason to go on living and for that I am forever grateful."

placing a hand on her chest the tanuki demihuman continued. "Wherever you decide to go know that I will alway be by your side."

Naofumi looked taken aback by this before smiling ever so slightly. Bluebell also smiled glad that the shield hero had found someone to truly fight alongside him.

The bow hero Audrey however felt oddly conflicted. A part of her was filled with joy and relief now that she knew that Naofumi had the companion he needed, someone who believed in him wholeheartedly and wanted to fight by his side supporting him on his journey. But at the same time Audrey felt as a sense of discomfort, as joyest as it was that Raphtalia would give Naofumi the support he needed it also somehow served as a reminder of what the bow hero couldn't do in spite of how she may have wished to.

Audrey shook her head. There wasn't time for such thoughts, this was a happy occasion and besides the wave was still coming up, speaking of which.

**00:00:14:38**

"Just over ten minutes." the bow muttered to herself loud enough for her teammate Bluebell heard.

"Is that how long we have until the wave starts?"

"Yes."

"Then I suppose there is nothing more we can do aside from wait."

Audrey was indifferent towards the prospect of simply having to wait it out but as her teammate said there wasn't anything more they could do. Still Audrey couldn't help but wonder about the different possible factors of the wave.

If she was forced to fight some type of boss monster would she be strong enough to stand up to it? And what about the wave itself, would it even show up near where the Heroes were currently located? It might be convenient if it happened in the correct way but that scenario could also be rather dangerous for the heroes if at least not tedious to deal with.

Simply put, it would be one thing if Audrey and the others were just outside of the area where the wave would initially spawn to give the group breathing room but if they were right in the middle of the area it would only make things needlessly difficult to deal with. The last thing Audrey wanted was to be forced to deal with monsters spawning right next to her, she had already played a first person shooter game on steam at one point where hordes of enemies were simply spawning out of nowhere and even in the same room as Audrey's character if she tried to go inside of a structure to gain a bit of breathing room which ruined the entire experience altogether.

That was something the blonde haired hero really didn't want to be forced to deal with here since it would be far more dangerous since the option to simply retry wasn't there and she and the other heroes didn't have multiple lives, if they were killed that would be the end of it right then and there.

Another scenario to worry about was if the wave took place somewhere far away, if that ended up being the case it might mean the danger would be initially reduced by a large margin. Still it wouldn't do any good if everyone had to set out just to find where the wave was. The entire process could take anywhere from days to weeks depending on how far away it was which would only give the wave time to do even more damage and likely build up its numbers that much more if the monsters simply spawned without end until the the wave itself was stopped.

While thinking about this along with other potential factors of the waves the bow hero glanced at her timer.

**00:00:03:21**

'Three more minutes.' She thought to herself while waiting for them to pass by and taking a brief moment to read over the explanations for her newly acquired skills.

**Chain arrow: a special arrow that morphs into a group chains once it hits a target wrapping around it and restraining its movements.**

That would definitely help, even if it didn't hurt an enemy on its it could create an opening when the need arose.

Looking at her other skill the blonde college student turned hero was pleased to find that it was along the lines of what she wanted.

**Rain arrow: shoot an arrow above a target to cause numerous arrows to rain down on them from above or shoot arrow above self to create a hail of arrows to attack any number of enemies within close proximity.**

Audrey glanced at her timer and saw it was almost reaching its end mark.

**00:00:00:05**

Time seemed to slow down as the last few seconds passed by.

**00:00:00:04**

**00:00:00:03**

**00:00:00:02**

**00:00:00:01**

Audrey swallowed some air as she watched the final second go by

**00:00:00:00**

And so it began; Audrey found herself engulfed in a blinding light.

**XXXXX**

"Wh-what happened." Audrey asked as she took time to scrutinize the scenery around her upon coming to. The first thing she noticed was that her location had changed.

She was in the middle of the fields now but as for where exactly she really couldn't say, it wasn't one of the areas she was familiar with.

She could only guess that she had been teleported to the general area where the wave was manifesting. The area seemed promising enough since while there weren't any monsters within the immediate area of where she was the sky was a crimson red color with multiple spiraling circles that the bow hero could only guess was some type of spawn point for the wave itself to come from.

"Let's find the boss and take it down." Motoyasu announced to his team before running off to fight the wave.

"Like hell I'm going to let you steal my kill?" Ren declared before running off ignoring the protest of his own party when they attempted to reason that they should come up with a plan.

Unfortunately they were ultimately simply forced to follow after them.

While the logical part of her screamed at her to follow the spear and sword heroes her legs seemed to be struck in place almost as if refusing to move. Audrey wanted to ask herself why her body was acting the way it was but deep down she knew the answer. It was a sense of self doubt, fear that her strength wouldn't be enough to face whatever the boss monster was.

"Naofumi look!" Raphtalia suddenly exclaimed as she pointed in the direction of a village off in the distance that monsters were closing in on.

Everyone looked in the direction of the settlement before Naofumi spoke up. "It's Lute village. Come on Raphtalia." Naofumi said heading towards the village with his teammate following close behind.

"What do you want to do?" Bluebell suddenly asked Audrey.

The blonde haired hero took a few long moments to weigh her options which were either go with Motoyasu and Ren or help Naofumi.

While fighting the boss meant obvious imminent danger that didn't necessarily mean the Naofumi's choice was absolutely safe, essentially there was a risk to her life no matter what she did.

"Audrey this is not the time for hesitation."

"Ri-right, sorry."

"It's alright, this isn't the kind of situation to take lightly."

"We'll help Naofumi for now. Both Ren and Motoyasu are in their forties in terms of levels so they should be fine."

With that the two set off after their allies heading to Lute village. It didn't take too much time to reach but when the two did they saw their first glimpse of the wave.

The horde of monsters that had come forth had mainly consisted of giant bee like bugs and humanoid undead soldiers. Neither type could have been considered appealing to look at (though there wasn't any monster that actually were so far at least by Audrey's standards.) In fact it might have been accurate to say that they really grotesque even compared to past monsters but none of that mattered in this situation.

Getting closer to the village the pair soon spotted Naofumi running towards a daughter and mother who were cornered and about to be attacked by the insectoid monsters. Unfortunately the monsters were closer to the family than Naofumi by a wide margin which meant he wouldn't be able to get to them in time.

Audrey felt her stomach turn cold while watching the scene play out. While she might have prepared herself to the best of her ability to encounter hordes of endless monsters she wasn't ready to witness a parent and child be brutally killed.

The bow hero was taken by surprise when Naofumi extended his hand outward towards the family before shouting out the following words "**shield prison**!"

Within a split second a sphere shaped caged made of shields with chains wrapping around them encased the mother and daughter inside protecting from the buying Naofumi the time he needed to get in between the insects and their target.

In response to this the insects decided to bear their stingers at the shield hero who switched his shield to a square shaped one and blocked whatever attacks he was able whilst simply tanking the ones the got past his shield.

Audrey began running towards the scene and firing at the insects closest to Naofumi. Luckily they went down with one arrow each bringing the shield hero much needed relief before the cage of shields dissipated revealing the family who was unscathed thanks to Naofumi's quick actions.

"Get out of here while you have the chance." Naofumi said before the two villagers immediately complied.

An undead soldier tried to rush Naofumi with its sword only to have its attack blocked before Audrey shot an arrow into its back and much to her relief the undead soldier like the insects went down with one shot.

"Audrey, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be finding the boss?"

"We can leave that to Ren and Motoyasu, their levels are higher than ours by a wide margin so they'll be fine on their own. Besides I could ask you the same thing."

"I saw this place was under attack and that no one was coming to help so I decided to step in."

Audrey was both shocked and amazed upon hearing this. Granted he still had to fight the waves because of fucked up circumstances but even so for Naofumi to still be willing to step in and help those living in this kingdom in spite of what had happened at the trial, how he was being unjustly treated by the people, and just how the entire kingdom seemed to get its sick kicks out of seeing him suffer in spite of the fact that unlike Motoyasu and Ren he was truly considering their pleas even back when even he himself thought that this world was a game.

Audrey had to admit she was happy to be proven right in her initial impression when Naofuni told her the story about him and his younger brother. Even though he might have became, distrustful, angry, and bitter thanks to the actions of Myne and the crown he still had the will to help those when the needed and ironically were undeserving of it after how they treated him when most other people in his situation would have decided that there wasn't any point in fighting to protect anything. Like the bow hero's friend Patricia, Naofumi truly was an example of the best of humanity even in spite of everything he had been put through.

Audrey was about to reply but was cut off when another undead soldier tried to rush her only to be intercepted by Bluebell who bashed the monsters with her shield causing it to stagger backwards before stabbing it through the chest.

"We need to hurry and make sure everyone has evacuated the village." Naofumi said.

"Got it." Came Audrey's reply before the three begin running deeper into the village to engage the next group of monsters.

"Sir Naofumi might I ask where your companion is?" Bluebell inquired.

"I had her lead most of the villagers to a nearby mine to take refuge there until the wave is defeated, she'll join us once she's done." He replied before switching to what Audrey guessed was the shield he obtain from the two headed dog he told her about earlier and blocked a sword swing from an undead soldier before the two dog heads attached to the front of his shield suddenly opened their eyes and extended from the shield biting into the undead's arm causing a it screech and stumble backwards.

From the looks of it Audrey could confidently guess that what had just happened was the result of an equip effect from the shield Naofumi was currently using which basically amounted to a counter attack of sorts.

The effect was minimal but it did do damage judging from tears in the undead soldier's arm. Bluebell quickly ran the undead through killing it before kicking it off her blade whilst Audrey shot down numerous insects in quick succession.

Another undead tried to get the jump on Audrey which lead to her using her using her quick dash skill to avoid its attack and gain distance at the same time before following up with an arrow to the undead soldier's head.

What happened next might have been a stroke of bad luck for the bow hero but the timing of it suggested otherwise when a number of bee like insects flew from above and between various buildings of the village surrounding and zeroing in on Audrey.

"Audrey!" Naofumi screamed out in worry he wanted to use his shield prison to protect her but unfortunately it was still in its cooldown period and his other skilled couldn't protect her from all angles.

Bluebell was left in a state that was more or less the same. She could try to utilize a fireball spell but the insects would likely already be upon Audrey by the time she finished the incantation and even if that was the case she'd only be able to dispatch a certain number of them and risk hitting Audrey.

Audrey however in spite of her current predicament had a sliver of hope thanks to her fellow hero. Taking aim straight up into the air Audrey summoned an arrow.

'Please let this work!' With that thought in mind Audrey yelled out. "**Rain Arrow."**

She fired an arrow straight into the air above her and after it reached about four and a half meters it emitted a blinding light for the very briefest moment before it multiplied into numerous arrows which rained down in the immediate area surrounding Audrey killing most of the incoming insects in the process much to her relief.

Acting quickly Bluebell made hey way to Audrey before stabbing one of the remaining while Naofumi extended his hand outward. "**Airstrike shield."**

An ethereal shield materialized at Audrey's side blocking another one of the remaining insects' path. The bow hero quickly utilized the opening Naofumi made via leaping over the shield and shooting the insect whilst Bluebell dispatched of the last remaining one.

'"Is that all of them?" Audrey asked before getting her answer in the form of a screech as an undead soldier tried to ambush Naofumi only to stop in their tracks when a blade emerged from their chest.

A moment later the undead soldier fell forward revealing none other than Naofumi's demi human companion.

"Naofumi!" Raphtalia exclaimed in relief running over to the shield hero's side. From the looks of it the racoon girl was happy that the hero she was traveling with was safe and sound which Audrey could understand.

Naofumi had put himself in a dangerous position trying to single handedly protect this village on his own which really could have gotten him hurt. Honestly Audrey was glad she decided to help him rather than go with the other two heroes.

"Are all the villagers safe?" The shield hero inquired.

"Yes, they're all taking refuge in the mines."

"Good we need to keep the village clear of any monsters trying to overrun it until the others are done taking care of the boss."

By some off chance Bluebell looked into the sky and noticed numerous lights in it that seemed dim at first but appeared to gradually grow brighter and soon everyone else had noticed them.

Both of the heroes tensed up until the entire group realized that the lights were actually numerous flames that were headed right for them which brought about two different actions from Naofumi and Bluebell.

The former grabbed his teammate pulling her and into him wrapping his cloak protectively around her whilst raising his shield above his head.

The latter ran over to Audrey and grabbed ahold of her arm in the process before frantically dragging her in between two buildings for cover before the bow hero could even completely process what she was doing.

Once the bow hero regained her bearings she was greeted to a sight that left her downright appalled. The flames turned out to be arrows that had their heads lit on fire which were raining down on not only the village itself but also Naofumi.

"Alright we wiped them all out in one go." A male voice said leaving Audrey shocked before she came from between the buildings and saw that the ones responsible for setting the village alight were none other than the knights of Melromark.

Audrey felt her mind go completely blank as she worked to process what had just happened.

After her and Naofumi had just risked their own lives to save the village these knights not only set the entire place ablaze but needlessly endanger the entire group and hurt Naofumi in the process after he went out of his way to safeguard the settlement.

The commander of the knights noticed Naofumi and sneered. "So the lowly shield demon was here to, it seems you don't die as easily as the monsters do."

Audrey began seeing red in the edges of her vision, at the same time however Raphtalia emerged from Naofumi's cloak rushing at the commander with sword in hand startling him.

However before she could end the commander another knight intercepted her blocking her attack.

"Did you know master Naofumi was here!?" An enraged Raphtalia demanded. "Answer me before I cut you down."

The commander glared nervously at the Racoon demi human. "You dare raise your blade to a knight of Melromarc? You nothing but a filthy animal."

This earned an enraged snarl from Raphtalia who pushed against the knight that was blocking her path.

"Cut this animal down now."

One of the other knights attempted to rush at Raphtalia only for an arrow to hit their sword knocking the weapon from the knight's hands and causing everyone to look at a furious Audrey Alethea.

"Th-the bow hero?!" The knight commander exclaimed.

Audrey lowered her head allowing her bangs to cover her eyes as she said something under her breath.

"Lady Audrey?'' The knight commander asked.

"You bastards are going to pay for what you've done!" Audrey yelled out before summoning another arrow and firing at straight at the commander's head.

**"Airstrike shield."**

Another ethereal shield appeared this time blocking Audrey's attack catching her off guard and causing her to stare at Naofumi in disbelief.

"Audrey, Raphtalia that's enough." The shield hero said.

"But….." His companion tried to protest.

"We need to focus on the wave."

Audrey sighed calming down enough to think straight whilst Raphtalia backed away from the knight she was previously locking swords with before returning to her master's side drawing an arrogant smirk from the commander.

"You'd best listen to your master if you know what's good for you, filthy vermin."

Bluebell who had come out into the open spoke up. "It was one thing to use arrows but it was wrong to set fire to everything."

"It was the best way to take out the monsters infesting it, stay out of our way and we won't have to make mistakes." The commander said dismissively causing Audrey's anger to begin rising once more before Bluebell placed a hand on her shoulder getting the bow hero to regain her composure.

It was the commander's turn to be confused when Naofumi smirked and replied. "Ok we'll all stay out of your way."

"Huh?...well good, there's no need for your help anyway."

"Then I guess you'll be fine taking on the next group of monsters on your own if you're not crushed to death first."

"Huh?" The knight commander turned around and was caught off guard when he saw a new group of undead soldiers and insects upon him and his men along with a larger undead that had its weapon raised high for an overhead swing.

The knights all panicked as the larger monster brought its axe down with the intent of bisecting its current targets.

Luckily Naofumi was quick enough to get between the larger monster and the knight to block its attack before Raphtalia followed up leaping at the monster and decapitating it.

After that was done Naofumi decides to briefly address the knights. "If you plan on ever getting in formation you better do it now while you have the chance.

The commander glared at the shield hero. "Who are you to be giving orders to my men?!"

"If you don't want to listen to him then fuck off and get lost." Audrey shot off.

"Co-common, we're going to where the spear and sword heroes are." The knight commander said before turning to leave which really didn't surprise Audrey one bit.

Just from what little she had seen Audrey could already tell that the commander was just like the other two heroes, not concerned with the safety of the people or actually performing his duty, he was pretty much just concerned with whatever glory he could get from via mooching off of the deeds of the heroes.

Regardless of what the commander might have intended much to his and the parties of both heroes surprises nearly all of the knights save for two didn't move until the one that had previously stopped Raphtalia from cutting the commander down spoke up. "Everyone get into formation and aid the heroes in defending this village!"

Upon hearing this all the knights save for two and the commander formed up and prepared to fight off anymore monsters entire the village.

The commander snarled before turning to leave with the two underlings that still showed obedience to him.

Meanwhile another cluster of undead soldiers and insects began advancing on those present whilst Naofumi walked to the front of the expanded group.

"Raphtalia be ready to cut down any monsters that come near after I get their attention."

"Right!"

"Audrey of its alright with you I'd like for you and Bluebell to help us out."

For the first time since this entire battle began Audrey actually found herself able to smile. "It goes without saying that we'll help you."

"Thanks, I'd like for Bluebell to fight alongside Raphtalia and for you to act as rear support."

"Alright but what about the knights that are still here?"

"They'll need to fight off whatever gets past us and help make sure there's no stragglers left lurking about."

With that everyone began carrying out their assigned roles. While Naofumi kept as much attention from the enemies on himself as he was able to whilst handling the defenses both Raphtalia and Bluebell handled the main offense dispatching of anything close to Naofumi.

Audrey meanwhile shot down whatever stragglers she could that the two sword users missed though numerous monsters still got past even her and went for the knights. The bow hero found herself tempted to use her rain arrow skill to slow down the onslaught on monsters coming forth be she knew that doing so would likely get in the way of her three allies who were at the very front.

By some off chance one of the undead soldiers managed to get close to Audrey giving her an idea. 'I know this is a bit risky but this is probably the best time to try this.'

Audrey changed her bow to the recent variant she obtained thanks to Naofumi and was soon holding a dark metal bow with two dog heads on each end.

Almost immediately the two heads extended from the bow much like the ones from Naofumi's version of the two headed weapon variant with the sole difference being that it didn't act as a counter attack.

After being bit by both heads the undead soldier's health went down by a third as the undead stumbled back with tears where it was bitten before Audrey followed up with an arrow to its chest.

Coincidentally an insect decided to zero on Audrey only for the two head dog bow to once again react with both heads extending outwards and biting the upper and lower body of the insect killing it on the spot.

'So my two headed dog bow simply attacks any enemy that gets within its attack range.' In other words it was a means to fight off enemies that got too close.

With her experiment now over Audrey switched to her silver bow and went back to offing any monster's that Raphtalia or Bluebell missed.

Another larger undead came on the scene intent on taking out whoever it could before Naofumi reacted by placing himself in the monster's path. **"Shield bash!"**

Naofumi's entire figure rushed forward towards the larger undead until he rammed himself into its figure with a rather surprising amount of force sending the creature to the ground before it skidded back for a little over a meter.

From the looks of it Audrey wasn't the only one becoming capable of feats that would otherwise be physically impossible thanks to the time they spent enhancing their individual stats.

Both Raphtalia and Bluebell used the opportunity to rush the larger undead and stab it in the chest while it was still down disposing of it right on the spot.

The knights that remained to assist the two heroes with defending the village of Lute were fairing relatively well managing to keep casualties to a minimal but even so they were being pushed to their limits.

Overall everyone involved in the defense of Lute was holding out adequately for the time being but the onslaught of enemies would never truly end and from the looks it was not about to any time soon.

This caused both the bow and shield heroes to wonder what was taking the other two heroes so long. They couldn't possibly have been having that hard of a time, could they? They're levels were higher than Audrey's or Naofumi's by a wide margin so they were obviously in a better position overall, they had to be, at least that's what Audrey told herself as the fight dragged on.

The minutes began to add up and soon became a half hour then forty five minutes and before much longer the duration of the wave reached past the hour mark.

"Dammit what's taking the others so long?!" Naofumi demanded as he blocked an attack from an undead soldier before Raphtalia dispatched of it.

"I wish I knew." Audrey replied as she took out a group of insects in quick succession before she began to feel a great deal of fatigue beginning to take hold.

"They need to hurry, we can't keep this up much longer!"

The bow hero couldn't have agreed more with Naofumi, if this kept up too much longer everyone would run out of stamina and be sitting ducks. Actually that had happened with a few of the knights already whilst many others were having a much harder time hanging in there.

Both Raphtalia and Bluebell were also showing major signs of fatigue which only served to further remind the two heroes present that this needed to come to an end very soon but the problem was they couldn't do anything about it.

Unfortunately the problems only worsened when the corrupt commander suddenly returned to the village running frantically through streets of the settlement whilst screaming at the top of his lungs, his previous provado seemingly gone and replaced nothing aside from absolute terror.

While a large part of Audrey wanted to enjoy the sight his actions begged the question of just what scared him so badly, he wasn't the definition of bravery, far from in fact, his previous actions and demeanor showed that much but even so something told Audrey that something much more menacing than the undeads and insects was responsible for frightening the commander. She didn't have to wait long to discover what was responsible however it didn't provide her with any sense of relief.

Rather it filled her and likely Naofumi and their companions with a sense of dread. Charging through the streets was a new large set monster which had the body and head of a lion along with two extra heads being that of a goat and dragon as well a tail that was essentially a snake.

Immediately upon trying to appraise the creature the bow hero was met with a sight she really didn't like.

**Dimensional chimera: level ?**

Since she couldn't appraise it that could have only meant two things. First was that the chimera was the boss monster of this wave, and second was that it was a given that it was at a much higher level than herself since it was beyond her ability to appraise. The question that was left was just how far was to gap? Audrey didn't doubt it was bigger than what she was faced with when she encountered the vicious rabbit on the same day she began her duties as the hero of the bow of when she ran into the very first saber tooth black leopard she ever fought prior to meeting Bluebell.

Whatever the answer was, the chimera's sudden appearance may have made things go from bad to worse.

With everyone already exhausted from all the time they had spent keeping Lute from being overrun by the lower tier monsters they weren't in prime condition to fight off the chimera in fact it would be rather accurate to say they weren't prepared at all since they had never planned for it.

The only immediate advantage either hero could see the group have was that the chimera had various wounds here and there which were more than likely inflicted by Ren and Motoyasu, speaking of which where the fuck were they? Back when the wave first appeared the two set out to take down the boss and now they were nowhere to be seen.

It was a pretty safe bet to assume they botched the entire task altogether, honestly it was pretty ironic considering how overconfident the two were but regardless Audrey could only sigh at the thought since it didn't help her and Naofumi's situation, quite the opposite in fact.

"Audrey, Raphtalia, Bluebell we need to focus on taking this thing down." The shield hero declared before temporarily turning his attention to the knights.

"You guys need to focus on keeping any undead or insects away so we don't have any distractions."

Naofumi put himself in the chimera's path as it approached the group and tried to bite down on him with the lion head but Naofumi countered the attempt by lodgeing his shield in its mouth before using his free hand to grab ahold of the lion head's mane in order to immobilize the chimera.

"Rahptalia, Bluebell attack the other two heads. Audrey I want you to attack this one."

"Got it!" Without wasting a moment Audrey summoned an arrow and fired it into to lion head before repeatedly following up with a few more all the while both of the heroes teammates slashed at both of the other heads each leaving a gash in their targets before jumping back to avoid any type of reprisal as the chimera let go of Naofumi's shield.

The shield hero would have created distance between himself and the boss of the wave for the same reason as the others if he had the chance but unfortunately the chimera was too quick to act and raised one of paws to swipe it at Naofumi who could only raise his shield to block the attack.

Once the paw impacted his shield Naofumi was sent skidding backwards a couple feet and gritted his teeth from the pain but managed to stay standing nonetheless.

Audrey took the opportunity to shoot an arrow into the chimera's leg in hopes of immobilizing it more permanently. Unfortunately while the arrow did lodge itself in the chimera's leg the only other effect it had was drawing the chimera's attention to the bow hero herself before the dragon head opened its mouth and released a stream of flames that headed start for the bow hero.

Audrey had two ways of dodging the incoming attack but the problem was that even if she did the flame would still take out a good number of the knights holding off the other monsters.

**"Airstrike shield."** A shield manifested between Audrey and the flame blocking its advance. The summoned shield cracked in a few places but held up nonetheless as the flame continued pushing against it before dying down.

The chimera was about the charge forward but Naofumi had other plans. **"Shield prison." **Another cage of shields much like the one used to protect that mother and daughter from earlier manifest only being much bigger in size as to contain the chimera inside.

"Audrey now's your chance to use the skill you used earlier on this thing." Naofumi said while the chimera trashed around inside its makeshift prison trying to get.

Luckily the prison was holding but it was easy to tell from the rattling chains and newly forming dents that it was being pushed to its limit when it came to what it could endure. Utilizing the chance provided for her by the shield hero Audrey quickly took aim above the cage and fired.

**"Rain arrow." **Once the arrow was above the cage it multiplied into numerous arrows that rained down on the cage piercing through its surface and hitting its current occupant which let out painful roars from two of the heads and another pained sound from the final one which was likely the goat head.

Once the chimera finally broke free thanks to how weakened the cage of shields had become it immediately charged at Naofumi who raised his shield to block the attack before the boss of the wave used its goat head to ram into him. The attack proved to be significantly stronger than its previous paw swipe, enough that it sent Naofumi rolling across the ground.

The chimera then readied itself for another charge but Bluebell was faster and interrupted its attack by taking advantage of its distraction and thrusted the tip of her rapier its goat head doing whatever damage she could. The chimera decided to utilize the snake that made up its tail to counter attack. Bluebell had managed to raise her shield in time to avoid being bitten and possibly poisoned but the impact from the attack making contact with her shield proved to be strong enough to send her staggering back and few steps.

Before the chimera could follow up with anything else Audrey shot a number of arrows into its body while Raphtalia managed to put a gash in its side prompting an enraged response from the Chimera which tried to use its dragon head to chomp the tanuki demi human's head clean off but luckily Raphtalia was faster and leapt out of range of its mouth, unfortunately the chimera was determined to get revenge for its most recent wound and released a stream of fire at Raphtalia causing Audrey's stomach to turn cold before Naofumi who had gotten back to his feet reacted.

**"Airstrike shield!" **Another ethereal shield manifested blocking the dragon head's attack whilst Audrey felt a sense of relief that Raphtalia was saved from being burnt to death before aiming above the chimera while it was still letting out its stream of fire.

**"Rain arrow." **Another cluster of arrows rained down on the monster piercing into its back.

The chimera turned and charged at Audrey only for Naofumi to intercept it and block its path, the goat head rammed into Naofumi's shield but this time the shield hero remained standing even as the chimera pushed against his shield pushing him back slowly but surely in the process.

Raphtalia tried to attack while she had the chance but was forced to abort the attempt when the dragon head snapped at her, bluebell meanwhile tried her own hand at attacking only for the chimera to counter her attempt via using its tail.

Bluebell once more managed to block the attack with her shield but this time the chimera followed up with a swipe of its paw which Bluebell repositioned her shield to block the attack but in spite of her best effort she was sent sailing into the wall of a building.

Audrey became scared that she was going to lose her only teammate and only close friend aside from Naofumi and Raphtalia when she saw that not only was Bluebell not getting up but her health bar was building rapidly causing the bow hero to turn pale.

It might have been because Audrey decided to buy a stronger shield for her companion and boost her defense or perhaps it might have been nothing more than a mere off chance miracle or maybe just god's whim, whatever the case was Audrey was extremely grateful when Bluebell's heath finally stopped dropping when it drops to a little under one third of full capacity which signified that she was alive.

"**Shield bash." **

Naofumi rammed himself into the chimera with enough force to send it skidding backwards a little over a meter and more so to the point away from Bluebell.

The chimera decided to utilize its dragon head once more to release another stream of flame at Naofumi and moved to defend against the attack.

**"Shield prison." **Naofumi formed a cage of shield around himself while the flame came closer.

Upon contact the half of the cage that the flame was hitting began glowing orange before getting brighter to the point of turning white. Before long the shield prison was shattered and Naofumi was hit directly by the flames much to the horror of both Audrey and Raphtalia. However Naofumi simply stood where he was with his shield in front of him determined to protect his three allies.

Audrey quickly shot an arrow into the dragon head causing it to stop its attack early, not much to her surprise the chimera then decided to charge once more using its goat head to ram into any target in its path with its goat head.

Naofumi was still standing even after the attack but much of his gear and body burnt rather badly making adamantly clear that he had taken a lot of damage so Audrey doubted that he'd be able endure being rammed by the goat head any longer when it was already taking everything he had to do so back when he was in peak condition.

Acting as fast as she possibly could the bow hero took aim at the chimera and utilized the only skill she had in her arsenal that had a chance of stopping it from charging. **"Chain arrow."**

Audrey fired off an arrow that instantly morphed into numerous chains that immediately ensnared the chimera like a new before tightening themselves around its entire body constricting any movement it had.

Seeing this as her only chance to save Naofumi and Bluebell from certain death Audrey did the only thing she could and began launching arrow after arrow at the boss in hopes of taking it out right then and there before it could either break out of the chains.

It seemed Raphtalia had the same idea as Audrey and likely for the same reason as she ran up to the chimera and began hacking away at the side of its body doing as much damage as she could.

For all their efforts however they were ultimately for naught when the chimera broke free of the chains and performed a swipe of its paw sending Raphtalia into the wall of a building much like it had previously done with Bluebell.

Things only got worse when it turned its focus to the bow hero and the dragon head opened its maw. Audrey knew what was coming next which she couldn' allow to happen since even if she dodged it Naofumi and the remaining knights would all be taken out.

Summoning another arrow Audrey quickly shot at the dragon head which yielded a result that had both good and bad news pertaining to it. The good news was that the bow hero had succeeded in stopping the dragon releasing an entire stream of fire, the bad news was that it still managed to shoot off a fireball which forced Aidrey to act fast. **"Quick dash!"**

Audrey zipped out of the fireball's path taking Naofumi with her in the process before both heroes fell to the ground while the fireball passed by. The chimera's attack didn't hit either of the heros but it did manage to take out a couple more of the remaining knights.

Audrey rushed to get to her feet before proceeding to shoot at the chimera to make sure its attention was on her before running to get some distance from Naofumi so he wouldn't be caught up in whatever the chimera tried to do next.

The boss chose to perform another charge attack with its goat head. Since Audrey both Audrey's quick dash and chain arrow skills were still in their cool down period she settled for leaping over the boss as it got close which turned out to be a mistake on her part because of one feature of the chimera she forgot about. The snake it had for a tail.

The snake didn't miss the chance it had been given while Audrey was still in the air and unable to dodge it lashed out biting her in the leg before gravity began pulling her down to the ground while the chimera stopped and began turning around to face her.

After Audrey landed she immediately knew something was wrong when her body suddenly seemed to fight her the moment she attempted to position herself to fire more arrows at the boss and or avoid its next attack leaving her to wonder what was going on before she got a notification she really didn't like.

**Status ailment: paralysis**

Audrey's eyes became wide as saucers upon reading that, of all the possible inflictions she could have been hit with it had to be paralysis of all things, that was possibly the worst one possible, assuming no death, or KO infliction existed in this world considering it had essentially neutralized her greatest asset which was her speed, in fact with the way things were the bow hero was now essentially a sitting duck.

To make matters worse the chimera was already running at her with its goat head ready to ram into her.

Not being able to do much of anything more the watch thanks to her movements being slowed down so majorly Audrey tried to brace herself for the attack to the best of her abilities but it proved futile. Once the goat horns impacted her body Audrey felt herself flung into the air as her vision spun around rapidly, the bow hero managed to get a glimpse of the buildings underneath her for a moment before gravity took hold and her fell face first to the ground a little under a meter away from the chimera.

Looking at her health meter Audrey saw that she had lost the overwhelming majority of it meaning that when the next attack came she'd be done for.

The chimera began stalking toward her while the lion head opened its mouth preparing to bite into the now hopeless bow hero.

Has the beast got within range to attack and bared its fangs Audrey closed her eyes believing that this was the end before she heard someone run in front of her, the chimera's lion head growl briefly, and then a familiar voice grunting in pain causing her to snap open to see one of the last sights she would have wanted to be confronted with.

Naofumi who was already injured from the last attack he endured was standing in front of Audrey protectively and enduring the lion head biting down on him and into his body drawing a high amount of blood all the while managing to roll a potion with a liquid that Audrey hasn't seen towards her.

"Take it, it'll cure you of your paralysis status and you can save the Raphtalia and Bluebell and then regroup."

Audre's eyes widened at what her fellow hero was implying. "Naofumi you can't possibly mean for me to…"

"I do." He cut her off. "You're able to do more against the waves I ever could since I'm stuck with this shield so things are better this way."

For what was the very first time since she had been summoned to this world Audrey actually found herself feeling upset with Naofumi maybe even angry.

She mustard all the strength she could to force her body to move even with the status effect making it hard to do so and grabbed the potion.

Saving Raphtalia and Bluebell was something she could agree to without the slightest inkling of a doubt, both of them weren't just some of the only legitimately good people in the fucked up world, they were her friends, people she truly cared for as opposed to most of the scum that made up this place.

Audrey pulled off the lid off and drank the contents as fast as she could.

But the second part of what Naofumi was asking, how could he possibly think that she could go along with such a thing?

Audrey stood up and aimed her bow into the air with more vigor than she had since the wave began.

After everything she had done to help him through his endeavors even when it meant she lost the financial support of the crown did he really expect her to accept such twisted logic.

**"RAIN ARROW."**

There was no way in hell Audrey could cave into such a twisted sense of logic. Did Naofumi really believe that Audrey was better qualified to deal with the waves simply because she had a means of attacking? For god's sake she already told him on their first night there that simply attacking alone wasn't absolutely everything and that defending something from harm held just as much value.

The rained down on the chimera's back inflicting deep wounds causing it to let go Naofumi but Audrey wasn't done, adjusting her aim she began firing at the lion head repeatedly in rapid succession. Soon the lion head had more and more arrows lodged into it to the point that mine as well have been a pincushion.

The chimera howeld in a mixture of pain and rage before attempting to utilize its dragon head but Audrey was having none of that.

Acting even faster than the chimera Audrey shot an arrow into one of its eyes before it even had a chance to conjure any flame up causing it to howl in pain.

The chimera than tried to charge at her but Audrey simply grabbed Naofumi and jumped to the side letting the boss pass by before placing the shield hero down and going back into the middle of the street whilst the chimera turned around and tried to ram her once more with its goat head only to have its attempt thwarted when Audrey leapt into the air letting it passing under her.

Once more the chimera tried to utilize its tail but again Audrey was quicker to react shooting an arrow into its base severing the appendage off. The chimera howled in pain and turned towards the bow hero before readying itself for another charge in desperation but once more its attempt was cut short.

**"Chain arrow."**

Once again the chimera found itself unable to move has numerous chains ensnared its body and restricted its movement. Audrey wasted no time using the opening her skill had created and proceeded to shoot arrow after arrow into the goat head much like she had done with the lion head until it finally died off.

The chimera managed to break out of the chains and slowly make its way feet now struggling in the process before shakily trying to use the only remaining head that wasn't dead to release another more desperate stream of flame which flew at the bow hero at an alarming speed. **"Airstrike shield!"**

A new airstrike shield materialized in the middle of the street stopping the flame from going any further or reaching Audrey who proceeded to leap into the air and shoot an arrow into the dragon head's remaining eye before being taken by surprise when she saw both Raphtalia and Bluebell who had each previously been unconscious ran at the remaining head from both sides before slashing at its neck with all their might severing the head for the boss' body.

Speaking of which now that it was left with no functional heads the body simply slumped over and fell to the ground.

Has Audrey landed on the ground and viewed the motionless body of the chimera only one question ran through her mind.

Was it finally over?

The college student turned hero received her answer when the numerous vortexes faded out of existence and the sky returned to its normal blue color. Seeing this Audrey sighed with relief before grunting at a sudden surge of pain shooting through her body. It didn't take much to deduce what the source was now that she had time to really focus on it. She was still injured from when the chimera rammed into her with its goat head.

Judging from the pain that was becoming increasingly noticeable to the point that Audrey could not stop herself from falling to her knees, she might have had a broken rib...or a few. Either way she wouldn't be figuring it out at the moment since she felt herself slipping out of consciousness while her vision began to fade before she began falling forward briefly only for something to catch her before she hit the ground.

Whatever it was she couldn't tell, she'd have to find out whenever she awoke again.

* * *

**And that's another chapter down. I had a few ideas for how I wanted the fight to go but I decided to settle for this.**

**And yes I'm well aware that the chimera fight going wrong has already been done in another story but I decided to have it happen here for a few reasons.**

**First it seemed pretty plausible considering the chimera was only facing two heroes instead of three meaning it would be in a better position during the fight especailly when you consider that the heroes in question are being complete fucking morons insisting on thinking that the world is a mere game to be won which in turn is leading to them underestimating the danger it poses by a vast margin which leads into my next reason.**

**Since like a lot of other people I am not a fan of the other three heroes (or two in the case of this story) so I personally wanted their incompetence to show itself even sooner than in cannon. **

**And finally it's going to give Audrey some character development in the next chapter since she in spite of knowing that the world is real was actually being a bit naive in another way that I'm sure some of you might have noticed during the earlier segments of the chapter when the wave first began.**

**Until then stay tuned for the next chapter, "She's not yours for the taking."**


	6. She's not yours for the taking

**And we're finally back with the next chapter of this story, I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait there's been a lot things going with me and my job thanks to this damn virus going around as well as complications when writing this chapter which I'll go into at the end but you can rest assured this story's not abandoned.**

**And in case anyone's wondering how Audrey behind Ren and Motoyasu at this point in the story when she can attack it's because she doesn't have knowledge of where all the farming spots are and since she doesn't have a full party she's been playing especially cautious.**

**Also I was surprised by all the reviews claiming that Audrey was being reckless since that….wasn't really my intention.**

**Disclaimer: i don't own rotsh**

* * *

Total darkness, that was all Audrey could see no matter what specific direction she chose to divert her gaze in the darkness spread out endlessly.

Audrey didn't feel anything in fact it might have been rather accurate to say that she wasn't even touching any type of surface rather she was simply floating in the middle of the abyss not even able to move. It was more or less impossible not to begin wondering where this place was along with how and maybe even why she was there.

All Audrey could really recall was that she had been through some kind of major confrontation that placed her very life in danger. Maybe this was the afterlife? If this was then it only begged the question of just how did Audrey lose her life. Would she eventually go to another part of the afterlife, be reincarnated with enough time in the world of the living or simply have to spend eternity in the endless void?

That last thought frightened her to no end. If this was truly to be her end than she would rather cease to exist altogether since floating in an endless sea of nothingness would eventually drive her to insanity however all her darker thoughts her were interrupted when Audrey heard a faint sound off in the distance from a direction she really could not determine for the life (or perhaps lack thereof) of her.

The sound snagged her attention to it as the sound in question steadily grew louder little by little. It started out too distorted to make out exactly what it was but overtime the sound began clearing up little by little until Audrey was able to piece together that it was most likely a voice though she still couldn't say with absolute certainty.

Still a large part of her had to wonder if someone else had found their way into the abyss where she was somehow or if they might be able to provide her a way out. The closest thing she got to an answer was in the form of the sudden appearance of a light out in the distance ahead of her.

Before she could ponder the light's sudden appearance all that much it began to rapidly grow brighter and brighter until the blackness of the abyss began being overtaken by white and Audrey was forced to cover her eyes when the light became blinding whilst it enveloped her entire being.

Soon her consciousness began fading out but not before the sound which was now confirmed to be a voice by this point in time called out her name clearly enough that she was able to register it properly.

XXXXX

The bow hero felt herself stir awake before she opened her eyes and found herself laying in the bed in a rather unfamiliar room.

"Wh-what ho-"

"Audrey!" A voice exclaimed directly from her right before she felt a weight crash into her body full force before finding herself wrapped within a tight embrace.

The bow hero winced as a surge of pain shot through her body before she glanced down at the source of the weight and saw a head of sky blue hair laying on top of her before it rose up to face her confirming what she already guessed from the hair color alone, it was Bluebell.

As the sword maiden lifted herself off of Audrey to get a proper look at her before letting out a sigh of relief. "It's a relief to see that you're finally awake."

Wincing as she sat up the bow hero turned her teammate. "Nice to see you too." Looking around for a few moments Audrey soon realized that the room she and Bluebell were currently in was not one she was familiar with. "Where are we?"

"We're at the inn within the village of Lute."

Audrey's eyes widened upon hearing this before she began to recall the battle with the second wave that had taken place within the settlement and how it was lit ablaze by the castle knights.

"You don't mean the same place we defended do you? It was set on fire by the knights."

"It was but luckily the inn only sustained moderate damage, while there are a number of rooms that can't be used for the time being the two we have are still usable."

"Does that mean you're using the other one?"

"No, both sir Naofumi and Raphtalia are staying there."

Once more Audrey's eyes widened upon hearing the name of the shield hero and remembering how he was nearly killed by the chimera. Swinging her legs around until she was sitting on the edge of the bed she wasted no time in standing up or at least attempting to before a jolt of pain caused her to grunt in pain and nearly fall to the ground before bluebell caught her.

"You shouldn't strain yourself, you've only been resting for a day."

"You make it sound like that isn't much time."

Bluebell sighed. "In this case it really isn't, out of all of us you sustained the worst injuries by far."

Audrey winced as more pain shot through her body whilst Bluebell motioned for her to return to the bed. "Judging from the area hurting the most, is it safe to assume I have some fractured ribs?"

"It's more accurate to say that more than a few of them wore broken."

Audrey found herself surprised, Bluebell's assessment was worse than she could have anticipated considering everything from the previous fight. Back when the chimera managed to use its ram attack it did manage to shave off the majority of her health bar as well as send her literally sailing through the air and if she was being honest it hurt like hell but even so she was still able to fight though how that was possible if she was truly as injured as Bluebell implied was something that was anyone's guess. Maybe it was thanks to the physical enhancements this world allowed a person to gain via leveling up and raising their stats? She didn't know but those thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind when she remembered how Naofumi almost died.

"Ho-how about Naofumi?"

"His condition is better than yours at the very least but it's also far from ideal."

"Okay, is he also bed ridden like me."

"No he's able to walk on his own but it takes a small bit of effort; I believe it's best that he avoids any fights with monsters or other foes for the time being."

Audrey sighed "While avoiding monsters is doable I don't know if it can be done with the people."

Bluebell smiled which confused the bow hero a bit before replying. "I think it might please you to know that thanks to sir Naofumi's actions here the villagers living here view him in a light different from those in the capital."

"You mean it?!" Audrey exclaimed.

"Of course. Seeing as sir Naofumi came to their aid when neither knights or the other two heroes bothered to lift a single finger to do so."

"I see." Audrey said as a smile overtook her expression. Truly after all the unfair treatment Naofumi had been shown since being summoned simply for nothing more than just being chosen by the shield Audrey was glad that her friend's reputation was being restored even if it was only by a small amount.

"Of course the villagers were also grateful to you too."

"That's...good to know." It was nice to be appreciated for her efforts Audrey couldn't help but wonder if she really deserved it. While it was true that she also helped defend Lute she only did so simply because she felt it was the safest action to take since she was under leveled and wasn't confident that she could take on the boss.

Audrey's smile fell as she recalled the fight with the chimera in detail. Having her initial belief that Ren and Motoyasu could handle the chimera get proven wrong when the fight with wave dragged on seemingly without end until she and others were running low on stamina and things only got worse when the chimera turned up in the village forcing both her and Naofumi to defeat it themselves.

That was something Audrey never wanted to go through again however she was now very well aware that she likely wouldn't have a choice. Since the chimera managed to make its way into the village it only went to show that relying on Ren or Motoyasu wasn't a wise idea; Audrey found herself repressing the urge to groan at her own naivety, she should have known better than to leave things in the hands of those two morons. While the sword and spear heroes were twice as high in terms of levels compared to Audrey and Naofumi that didn't equate to them being reliable, they both were convinced that this world was just a video game based on ones they knew from their respective worlds and didn't take the situation seriously.

Honestly Audrey almost felt pity for the king, three heroes church, and the other morans who placed their faith in those two, with the way things were going the people of this world were likely in for an unpleasant awakening down the line.

Speaking of the other two heroes. "Before I forget I need to ask, do you know what happened with Ren and Motoyasu?"

Bluebell sighed in exasperation upon hearing this catching Audrey by surprise once more since Bluebell was normally enthusiastic when it came to the heroes. Had the other two heroes done something that lowered her opinion of them? Thinking about Audrey could definitely see that happening with Motoyasu's retarded ass and Ren had a stick up his own ass that was more than a bit noticeable so maybe her question might have been a bit rhetorical.

"They showed up a few minutes after you lost consciousness. Then the sword hero began complaining about how you and sir Naofumi had stolen his kill."

Audrey had to roll her eyes at this. Of course being the one to make the kill was all Ren was concerned with but seriously if he wanted to be the one to land the finishing blow then he should have done it back when he and Motoyasu had initially gone after the damn thing or at the very least showed up sooner to help fight it off when it was trying to attack the village.

"Did they have any explanation for why they couldn't take it out before?"

"According to them it was stronger then another one from a game so…- I think that's what they called it so they had to retreat and regroup. I'm not really sure what they were on about. Do you?"

Audrey sighed. "Let's just say they were relying on a source of information that's semi accurate at the best of times."

"Semi accurate?"

"It means that it provides some information but it's either only something of a half truth or parts of it are a lie."

"Oh I see."

"That aside, what happened after Ren's initial complaining?"

"The spear hero turned his attention to Raptalia likely with less than pure intentions before noticing your unconscious form being held by Naofumi."

Audrey had to repress a groan upon hearing. Knowing Motoyasu the bastard probably tried to paint a picture that demonized Naofumi and made himself look like some saviour.

"He proceeded to accuse sir Naofumi of hurting you before a small argument erupted between the two before sir Naofumi almost got the spear hero to back off when he pointed out that he was also injured."

"I'm guessing that bitch Myne butted in?"

Bluebell sighed. "Yes, she tried to say that sir Naofumi was faking his injuries in order to hide what he did to you so he could rape you the same way he tried to with her."

Audrey had to chuckle upon hearing. That entire scenario was so bull****ed that she couldn't help it.

"The spear hero seemed to believe her instantly and moved to try and attack sir Naofumi before I stepped in and tried to tell him the truth of what happened whilst Raphtalia tried to vouch for me but it didn't help.

'Of course it didn't, we're talking about a guy who's even worse than the one who nearly ruined my high school life completely and a woman who's nothing but a lying cunt.' Audrey thought bitterly.

"The woman who framed sir Naofumi claimed he was forcing us to defend him which caused the spear hero to try to plea with me and Raptalia to go to his side while he defeated Naofumi and rescued you."

And now Audrey found herself loathing Motoyasu even more whilst Bluebell continued with her recount of what happened while the bow hero was unconscious.

"Much to our relief and surprise the knights that stayed behind to help us defend Lute stepped in and vouched for what actually happened. The spear hero's companion looked like she wanted to push her lies even further but it became impossible when the villagers returned further vouching for your and sir Naofumi's deeds."

"That's a relief."

"I agree, I feared we'd have to try to fight off the spear hero with how determined he seemed to take us if the knights and villagers hadn't stepped in."

"Well he's been after me and Raphtalia from the moment he's met us." Audrey admitted though she was now becoming a bit concerned with how far Motoyasu was going to take his advances after hearing upon how he was ready to attempt taking Raphtalia, Audrey herself, and even Bluebell now by force. At least they wouldn't about him making anymore attempts at taking them for the time being.

"Motoyasu's nonsense aside, there's one more thing I have to ask about. Where's the chimera's corpse?"

Bluebell just smiled. "There's no need to worry, sir Naofumi and Raphtalia made sure to procure them beforehand."

"That's a relief."

That earned a raised eyebrow from Bluebell. "Were you worried about obtaining the materials?"

"Yeah, knowing Ren and Motoyasu they'd likely try to take everything for themselves."

"Well when sir Naofumi went on to procure the materials from the chimera's body the sword hero issued a warning not to take everything for himself saying that just because Naofumi managed to kill the chimera didn't entitle him to everything."

And there it was, the stick Ren had a bit to deep up his own ass showing itself once more. If there was anyone with a sense of entitlement it was Ren himself along with the spear hero.

"The hero of the spear followed up by saying there was no point in Sir Naofumi having anything since his being chosen by the shield made him useless."

Aubrey found herself wishing she could punch Motoyasu, the spear hero carried too high of an opinion of himself simply for nothing more than the fact he was able to attack. "He didn't try to take things any further did he?"

"No, thankfully the knight's second in command decided to step in and defend Sir Noafumi forcing the spear hero to back off before he could try to use any type of force."

"Alright then." Audrey replied, taking a bit of comfort in the fact that Naofumi wasn't hurt any further than he already had been.

"Is there any chance to see Naofumi and Raphtalia?"

"Of course, I can get both of them shortly."

"Thanks."

Without any further reply Bluebell left the room.

Now alone Audrey began to remember how Naofumi tried to convince her to save Raphtalia, Bluebell, as well as herself and leave him behind during the clash with the chimera.

Did he really think his life was so expendable because of how others treated him simply for being chosen by the shield, did Naofumi truly think that he had less value merely because he wasn't able to attack? The thought of this upsetted Audrey internally.

A good part of the bow hero felt the need to chew Naofumi out for trying to sacrifice his life for her simply because he thought his death wouldn't be much of a loss but she wasn't in the best condition to confront Naofumi about the matter.

For now her only priorities were confirming with her own eyes the Naofumi had indeed survived the second wave and getting the materials from the chimera that her fellow cardinal hero had saved for her as well as recovering in the shortest time span possible so she could get back to improving her prowess in preparation for the next wave.

After around another minute or two passed the door to the room Audrey was currently using opened to reveal Bluebell along with Raptalia and of course Naofumi. Before Audrey could greet either of them the former of the two beat her to the punch.

"Lady Audrey, it's such a relief to see you awake, we were all worried about you!"

Audrey scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment at Raptalia's surprisingly doting nature. "I could say the same to all of you, when you and Bluebell were knocked out by the chimera and when Naofumi was injured I was worried I was going to lose you."

"I think you may need to concern yourself with your own well being first, out of all of us you sustained the worst injuries.

"Yeah I've been told that by Bluebell."

Rapthalia grunted in annoyance at Audrey's rather nonchalant attitude concerning her own condition whilst Naofumi took the opportunity to greet Audrey himself. "It's good to see your awake Audrey."

"It's good to be awake." 'And alive for that matter.'

"With what the village doctor had told us I thought you'd be out even longer." Naofumi said, earning a glare from his companion. "But I'm….glad you're okay." With that Naofumi turned his gaze away from Audrey for some reason she couldn't really deduce it almost seemed like the shield hero was embarrassed to say what he had just revealed.

"I could really say that the feeling's mutual. I thought we were about to lose you when the chimera was about to use its lion head to bite into you."

Raptalia turned her glare to Audrey whilst Naofumi casually scratched the back of his head. "Well thanks to you it wasn't able to do me in so thanks for saving my life." He said as a genuine smile etched its way onto his face.

"You're welcome." Audrey said, forcing a smile onto her own face which didn't go unnoticed by Bluebell.

"Oh yeah before I forget." Naofumi produced what looked like a small piece of meat that had a layer of fur attached to it. "I saved materials from the chimera and other monsters that appeared during the wave for you."

"Thanks, Bluebell told me about that before she went to get you and Raptalia."

"I'm just paying you back for the help you gave me." Audrey sat up wincing as she did which didn't escape the eye of either Naofumi or Raphtalia.

"Lady Audrey, you're still severely injured aren't you?" Rapthalia inquired.

"Apparently, it looks like these injuries are going to take more than a day to heal."

"You shouldn't stand then, you'll only worsen your injuries if you strain your body."

"There's no need to worry, I'm only sitting up so I can feed the materials Naofumi has to my bow." She said summoning her legendary weapon to her hands.

"Here." Naofumi said, holding the meat to the bow's jewel before Audrey willed the weapon to absorb it.

**Chimera lion meat bow unlocked.**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 10 Agi + 17**

**Equip effect none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion skin bow unlocking**

**Stat bonus: stealth + 10 Agi + 12 Atk + 6**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion leather bow unlocked **

**Stat bonus: Def + 5 stealth + 8 freezing resistance + 12**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion fur bow unlocked **

**Stat bonus: freezing resistance + 6 stealth + 4**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skill: none**

Audrey was grateful to see all the new bows she unlocked but was a bit confused when her bow was able to absorb the meat along with the fur since she'd normally have the separate the two before feeding them to the bow, a part of her figured that it was simply due to the small size of the portion she was given. "Alright I got three new bows unlocked."

Naofumi went on to produce something else from his shield but to Audrey's and the companions of both heroes' surprise he produced a potion.

Audrey was left unsure of how to respond before Naofumi spoke up. "It should help with your wounds."

"Naofumi you don't need to go that far for me."

"You need to get better as soon as possible."

After sighing in defeat Audrey appraised the potion in question and was surprised by what she saw.

**Hp potion: quality (high)**

Audrey's eyes widened considerably upon seeing this. "Naofumi how'd you get this? Back when I went to the apothecary the best the owner had was a potion of fair quality."

"One of the villagers gave it to me for defending the settlement."

"Well if that's the case are you sure you're okay with me having it?"

"Yeah if it helps you get back on your feet a little faster then I'll use it to help you."

"Alright then." With that Audrey drank the potion in one gulp before opening her status window.

**Audrey Alethea level 31**

**Weapon: legendary bow "locked"**

**Equipment: Basic clothing**

**Hp: 331/1457**

**Sp: 796/796**

**Sta:251**

**Def: 82**

**Agi: 423**

**Dex: 376**

**Skills: quick dash lv3, scouting lv1, transport bow lv1, rain arrow lv 1, chain arrow lv1**

Audrey noticed that her health bar was low but was going back up steadily until it reached 819/1457, while she wasn't back to one hundred percent she felt much better at least to the point that she could walk around again. "Thanks that really helped."

"Are you completely healed?" Rapthalia asked.

"No but I'll have a much easier time moving around now."

Bluebell let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now that things are going in the right direction we might be able to finally attend the celebration that the king is hosting and receive reward money."

This earned a raised eyebrow from Audrey. "A celebration?"

"Yeah as a way to thank us and the other heroes for fighting the waves."

"And the party and reward are going to be for all of us?"

Bluebell gave Audrey a look of confusion before she realized where the bow hero was coming from. "Of course in spite of his past actions against sir Naofumi he's honorbound to reward the heroes as per tradition."

"And you're sure he'll actually abide by them."

"The squad leader of the knights assured that he won't treat you or the shield hero unfairly."

"If you say so." Audrey turned to Noafumi.

"Do you plan to go?"

The shield hero scratched his head. "I don't care about the party but I can't turn down the reward money."

"Alright." Audrey said.

"Anyway all that aside I still need to give one the rest of the materials." Naofumi said before producing small pieces of the remaining materials which Audrey wasted no time in feeding to her bow one at a time.

**Chimera dragon scale bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Def + 15 fire resistance + 22**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera dragon eye bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Agi + 12**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera dragon fang bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 19 Dex + 11**

**Equip effect: bleed resistance up (medium) atk + 5**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera dragon meat shield unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 9 Spd + 10**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion mane bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: freezing resistance + 10 stealth + 20**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion eye bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: stealth + 7**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera lion fang bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 23 bleed resistance + 18**

**Equip effect:none**

**Skills:none**

**Chimera goat fur bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: mountain climbing + 20 freezing resistance + 9**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera goat horn bow unlocked.**

**Stat bonus: Atk + 10 Agi + 6 Def + 5**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera goat meat bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: mountain climbing + 15 Agi + 13**

**Equip effect: none**

**Skills: none**

**Chimera viper bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: poison resistance + 27 paralysis resistance + 20 Agi + 11**

**Equip effect: paralysis arrow**

**Skills: poison mist lv 1/10**

**Dimensional insect bow unlocked**

**Stat bonus: poison resistance + 7**

**Equip effect none**

**Skills none**

**Dimensional undead bow unlocked**

**Stat boost: Dex + 9**

**Equip bonus: none**

**Skills: none**

Audrey smiled at the end result. She got multiple stat boosts that were more considerable compared to past bow variations that she had unlocked since being summoned as the bow hero and even two more that would come in handy directly on the battlefield alongside the silver and stone bows in the form of the dragon fang and viper bows. On top of that she now had another offensive skill within her arsonal giving her another tactic she could utilize battle.

"So did the materials improve your bow?" Naofumi asked.

"Yeah. I got some considerable stat boost along with two bows I can make use of thanks to their equip effects and a new skill."

"I see." Naofumi announced before wincing.

"Are your own injuries still acting up?"

"A little bit."

"Don't you have any potions to heal yourself."

Naofumi averted his gaze away from Audrey's which only prompted her to push the subject further. "You do have potions don't you?"

The shield sighed. "No, I gave all the ones I had beforehand to the villagers to heal the injured save for the one I gave to you."

"You couldn't have saved one for yourself?"

"I'm durable enough to bear with my injuries for the time being." This earned a light glare combined with a groan of annoyance from Raphtalia which Audrey could honestly sympathize with at this point. While she admired Naofumi's kindness which had remained even through these tough times he was being put through thanks to the king, Myne, and Motoyasu even she wished the shield hero would be a little more considerate with his life….even if she wasn't in much of a place to talk.

"Anyway you should rest for today the knights will probably come by tomorrow to see if you're awake."

"What's stopping them from doing so today?"

"They already swung by before you awoke."

"Really?"

Bluebell was the one that answered the inquiry. "Yes, I had to nearly argue with them to get them to leave."

"Why?"

"They wanted to take you back to the castle saying that the church had offered to take care of you. I thought you might prefer staying here instead."

"You were completely right on that account. After what I've learned about them I'd rather not rather not have anything to do with them." Audrey replied and that was putting it vaguely.

After they tried to manipulate her into turning against Naofumi before Audrey had immediately decided that she wanted no form of interaction with them, if they truly felt the need to cater to the heroes they could just turn to Ren or Motoyasu, the latter of the two would likely revel in the attention especially it was was given to him by woman.

"I gave you all the materials I saved for you so I'll see you later." Naofumi said before leaving with Raphtalia following close behind.

Once the two were gone Bluebell turned to the bow hero and brought up a subject that Audrey did not expect.

"Is there a reason you seemed partially upset with sir Naofumi?"

Audrey was caught off guard and needed a few moments to answer. "You noticed? I thought I hid it."

"You did, at least enough that he nor Raphtalia noticed but I've been with you long enough to know when something is bothering you."

"When did you catch on?"

"Back when you wore a forced smile."

"I see."

"Is there something sir Naofumi did to upset you today?"

"No it was back during the wave."

"I see, what happened?"

"A bit before you and Raphtalia came to after being knocked out by the chimera it was well on its way to killing Naofumi, having him in the jaws of the lion head."

"So he was pushed closed to death, that alone shouldn't warrant being upset with him."

"But it isn't just that alone it was what he tried to have me do."

"And just what was it that he tried to have you do exactly that has you upset?" Bluebell asked with her curiously perked. With what she had seen so far between the two she knew that Audrey deeply admired the kind nature that Naofumi had even underneath his hardened heart and it would take something major for her view of him to be changed with the closest event to that happening being when she initially found out that he bought Raphtalia as a slave and nearly jumped to the wrong conclusions as to his reason for doing so.

Had something else happened with Naofumi that Audrey may have misinterpreted? There was only one way to find out, either way Bluebell wanted to help mend things between the two heroes before it could potentially escalate into a rift between the two. It would be in everyone's best interest if they remained on good terms since they were supposed to be on the same side when fighting the waves. Plus Bluebell felt that if Audrey's friendship with Naofumi died it would negatively impact her going forward.

Audrey might not have expressed it verbally but Bluebell had come to realize that the king's wrong doings and everyone wrongfully turning against Naofumi had greatly affected Audrey's view of not only the people of Melromarc but the entire world as a whole. The bow hero's only real motivation for fighting the wave was essentially her own survival as well as Naofumi's along with Raptalia's and Bluebell herself.

Bluebell understood how Audrey initially felt about this world since the kingdom was utilizing its resources to wrongfully torture Naofumi all while demanding that he performs his duty regardless but even so she hoped that once Audrey was up and about tomorrow she'd noticed that the people had come to see Naofumi for who he really was and in turn see that the world had more good in it than the king's influence had led her to believe.

"Naofumi tried to convince me to rescue you and Raptalia and…leave him to die."

Upon hearing this Bluebell wasn't able to think of a reply for what she was told so Audrey continued. "He tried to say that it would be better for himself to die since he was the least capable hero."

"I'm beginning to understand."

The bow hero let out a sigh of exasperation. "Back when we first met I told him that simply being able to attack wasn't everything, that he had another role he could play."

Audrey began trembling. "But he thinks his life is expendable compared to that of others because of his lack of attack power."

"And you don't agree." Bluebell mused.

"Of course not, one capability doesn't define someone's worth, Naofumi needs to realize that."

Bluebell smiled as she now realized what Audrey was truly upset about was Naofumi's self-deprecating mindset.

"Then perhaps when you're feeling up to it you should tell sir Naofumi that."

Audrey's expression became a mix of surprise and uncertainty as she turned her gaze to Bluebell. "You really think it'll be that simple?"

"I'm not entirely sure but I believe that if you reach out to him with enough effort he'll see that in spite of how many look down on him that he's more valuable than what they claim."

"I'm not really sure what to say to make him see that. I don't think just telling him that I didn't agree with what he tried to have me do is enough on its own."

"You may be right, still you don't have to speak to him on the matter immediately so you have time to think of just what you want to say."

"Alright, thank you."

"You welcome, just make sure to get it off your chest before we all have to head out after the celebration." With that Bluebell left the room for the time being leaving Audrey alone to contemplate what she wanted to say to Naofumi about his attempt to throw his life away during the fight with the wave.

For the time being the bow hero now had something to preoccupy her mind with until the party that would likely be tomorrow and god knew she wasn't looking forward to it due to the bastard hosting it.

XXXXX

The next day came and passed by rather quickly with Audrey finding herself able to walk on her own so long as she didn't put too much of a strain on her body.

Once Audrey went outside she saw a child limping and decided to give them one of the potions from her item storage she decided to give the rest of them to the villagers to use on any survivors who were still injured.

Bluebell tried to convince the bow hero to use one on herself but she simply stated that the villagers needed them more than she did and that buying more wouldn't be a problem since they'd be rewarded after the celebration.

At least assuming the king actually intended to reward her or Naofumi at all.

Soon the knights showed up in the village along with two of the last people Audrey gave two shits about let alone wanted to see in the form of the lying cunt named Myne and the bull****ed hero of the spear Motoyasu and soon the latter of the two was trying to dote on her whilst blaming Naofumi for her getting hurt which grated her nerves and it took her everything once of effort she had within her not to summon her bow from her back to her hands to start firing off a large flurry of arrows at the son of b****.

Soon everyone was taken to the capital via two carriages with one being occupied by Mototoyasu and Myne and the other by Naofumi and Rapthalia on one side along with Bluebell and Audrey on the other.

Bluebell and Raptalia chatted away happily whilst the two heroes sat in silence with Audrey staring out of the carriage window whilst Naofumi did the same all while occasionally stealing curious glances at Audrey, while he wasn't completely sure it felt almost as if she was avoiding his gaze which if it was truly the case raised the question of why. Had he done something to upset Audrey? He couldn't think of anything that could have invoked such a change from the previous day, he hoped he was wrong about his suspicion, Audrey was the first true ally he had since coming to this world and the only person he could truly place his trust in without the constant worry of being backstabbed.

The thought of Audrey hypothetically turning on and abandoning him felt surprisingly frightening so much so that he really didn't even want to think about it.

After a little over two and a half hours the group arrived at the capital and from there the castle.

Both Raphtalia and Bluebell held a fair amount of excitement about the event making Audrey somewhat envious. Bluebell appeared to be certain that the king wouldn't take any action against her or Naofumi and Raphtalia was also in a worry free state.

Once everyone arrived at the castle they were taken to the throne room where various nobles were already gathered whilst Aultcray stood in front of the thrones to address everyone present. "Greetings fellow citizens of Melromarc, tonight we celebrate the heroes. sir Motoyasu, sir Ren, and lady Audrey's triumph over the wave."

Audrey didn't miss how the King had a strained undertone in his voice when he mentioned her name. If Audrey had to guess she'd say that he hadn't personally wanted to accredit her for any part of the wave and only did so out of some type of traditional obligation. Not that she cared at this point if she ever did at all since being praised by people was far removed from her list of priorities.

Still the king didn't fail to disgust her when he blatantly left out Naofumi's name even if she was expecting it at this point. Well if he was only going to go out of his way to refuse to accredit Naofumi things would at least be somewhat tolerable at least for tonight.

"Thanks to the efforts of our courageous heroes our kingdom still stands and our future is assured." All the nobility gave an applause before the Aultcray continued his speech, the rest of which Audrey and Naofumi more or less tuned out not caring about the display that the kingdom's trash ruler was putting on and simply waiting until the banquet started.

Once it did the nobles either conversed with each other or with the other two heroes. Motoyasu unsurprisingly basked in the attention particularly when it was from a young woman though oddly enough he seemed to be scanning the room as if looking for someone in particular, whoever that someone was Audrey didn't care so long as he left her, Naofumi and their companions alone.

Ren on the other hand was mostly ignoring everyone around merely giving one word answers to those that he cared to reply to, like with Motoyasu the sword hero wasn't someone worth caring for, his need to put on a cold loner persona was only good for an eye roll.

Naofumi was staying at a table by an open window and staring outside ignoring the festivities which Audrey really couldn't blame him for afterall it was all nothing more then the king's way of showing off to his countrymen and appeasing the glory hungry heroes of the spear and sword's egos.

Both Raphtalia and Bluebell were both happily indulging in the food while talking with each other.

Audrey simply decided to join Naofumi since like him she didn't give two shits about the celebration or even the reward money, at least not whatever she might get since she was able to make steady income doing various quests for the guild, still she couldn't deny the benefit of having her budget boosted. "So Naofumi do you have any idea what you plan to do when this is over?"

The shield hero turned to face Audrey and shrugged. "Probably just head over to Edward's shop to pick up the custom armor he made for me then swing by Lute village before heading to other settlements. What about yourself?"

"Something along the same lines more or less though while I'm in Lute I'll try gathering some ore from that mine you told me about and probably look into getting a cart along with a tamable monster to pull so I have a better mode of transportation. Beyond that I'll likely try to look for more party members, amongst other things."

Naofumi's expression became one of curiosity. "Other things?"

"Yeah? On top of all the things I've listed I also am learning to read this world's language so I can learn magic."

"This world has that?"

"Yeah I actually found out about it on our first day outside the capital when one of the party members I was provided with used to try and burn a vicious rabbit alive."

Naofumi snorted upon hearing this. "They only tried?"

Looking back on it now Audrey couldn't help but smile a bit herself. "Pretty much, they flung a fireball at the monster only for the thing to dodge and try to maw their face off forcing me to bail them out."

This earned a laugh out of Naofumi almost causing the bow hero to forget about yesterday 'That's right I need to tell him about what I think of his action from the wave.' Even though that was the general thought that passed through the bow hero's mind a part of her couldn't bring herself to bring the subject up at that very moment.

While she felt the need to get it off her chest she also noticed that Naofumi genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself in her company which was something she...oddly wanted to savor while she could.

Before her thoughts could go any farther Raphtalia suddenly showed up with a plate of food before sitting next to the shield hero and then to Audrey's chagrin proceeded to hold a piece of food to Naofumi using the only fork she had.

"Say ahhh."

Naofumi sweat dropped whilst scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Yo-you don't need to do that."

Raphtalia didn't seem the least bit deterred in her efforts. "Come on master Naofumi." She said bringing the bring closer to his mouth.

No longer seeing a way out of this Naofumi simply complied with Raptalia's desire which the bow hero watched with narrowed eyes as she felt a new source of frustration wail up in her which only served to confuse her as soon as she noticed.

'Why do I feel ticked off after watching Raphtalia feed Naofumi? It's not something to be mad about; he has someone who truly cares for him.'

Still over at the food stands Bluebell watched in mild amusement at the display between the shield hero and his companion as well as Audrey's reaction. The bow's hero's attachment to the shield bearer was really showing through. The bluenette was beginning to wonder if she should remind Audrey of their previous talk about her fellow hero but refrained since it seemed that all of them were able to just enjoy themselves for the moment which was something Bluebell herself appreciated since it seemed like Naofumi and Audrey were rarely ever at ease like this so she wanted it to last while it could.

Unfortunately it appeared the hero of the spear had other plans as he walked over the three were before proceeding to yell at Naofumi.

"I know everything!"

Naofumi shot Motoyasu a look of annoyance whilst Raphtalia had a look of confusion and Audrey wore a look of anger.

Bluebell was about to attempt to step in and try to dissolve the situation before a group of guards stepped in front of her and seized her. "What are you doing?"

The knights merely smirked before replying. "I'm sorry but as the companion of the bow hero we need to question you along with lady Audrey about rumors of the shield hero having a slave."

"There shouldn't be any-mhpgp!" Bluebell was cut off when her mouth was gagged.

"We'd appreciate it if you came along "quietly" don't worry the bow hero will be joining you soon." With that the guards proceeded to take her out of the throne room whilst the spear hero continued making a scene.

"What are you on about?" Naofumi said with clear exasperation in his tone. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone aside from the one person who still believed in him along with their companions least of all the bitch who framed him for something he didn't do, the trash excuse of a king persecuted him without allowing him any chance to defend himself, or in this case the shit hero who used the trial as an opportunity to steal from from him.

Audrey watched the spear hero intently wondering what the hell he was trying to take from Naofumi time.

"I know you're keeping Raphtalia as a slave!"

So that was it. Audrey should have figured it would be that considering how Motoyasu had been trying to take Raphtalia for himself ever since meeting her and finding out she was a member of Naofumi's party.

Upon hearing this various nobles started whispering amongst themselves and shooting various insults at Naofumi which Ren joined in on.

Naofumi replied. "First off does she look like a slave to you? Second in case you haben't noticed slavery is legal in this world."

"We're from a different world, we shouldn't be doing such things."

Both Naofumi and Audrey felt their patients with this fucker wearing this thin. What the shield hero did wasn't any of Motoyasu's business.

"Besides there's no way in hell someone like Raphtalia would ever follow someone like you willingly, nobody would!"

Naofumi just sighed. "Is that all you have to say?"

Motoyasu growled before removing one of his gloves and throwing it to the ground in front of Naofumi. "I challenge you to a duel, if I win you have to release Raptalia!"

At this point Audrey felt her annoyance and resentment towards the spear hero grow even further. Just how much did Motoyasu feel the need to take whatever he could from Naofumi?

Naofumi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this ridiculous declaration. "And what happens if I win?"

"That won't happen! But if it were to things can continue as they are."

Naofumi simply sighed and stood up. "Come on Raphtalia, we're leaving."

"Ri-right." With that Raphtalia got up to follow Naofumi much to Motoyasu astonishment whilst Audrey looked around for Bluebell but noticed she wasn't anywhere to be found.

"H-hey where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here. You didn't really think I was gonna waste my time with a duel that I don't gain anything from did you?"

Before Naofumi or Raphtalia could go any further the guards cut off their path stopping them dead in their tracks and things only got worse when another group of guards came behind Rapthalia before grabbing her and restraining her via tying her up and gagging her whilst pulling her away from Naofumi.

"I have heard of your actions shield hero." Declared a voice that caused both Naodumi and Audrey to turn towards it to sight the king.

"I hereby order you to partake in the duel, otherwise I will have your slave taken from you by force."

Audrey was about to attempt to summon her bow to her hands in order to issue the same warning to the king that she had at the trial and put an end to this charade but before she could do so another group of guards jumped and restrained her before gagging her and dragging her away. "Sorry lady Audrey but we'd prefer if you don't get involved, we can't have you aggravating your injuries." Came the voice of the knight commander that had previously set fire to Lute during the wave.

The fear he had before during the wave was gone and replaced by a smug expression that only served to make Audrey's blood boil even further than it already was thanks to the actions of the King and Montoyasu. Unfortunately however Audrey couldn't do much to fight back against her captors thanks to her injuries and could only listen as the Aultcray announced where the duel was taking place.

XXXXX

Within the courtyard of the castle the nobles sat in the stands whilst the king was on a private balcony overlooking the entire courtyard with a tied up Raphtalia and two guards. Ren stood in another private stand that gave him a clearer view compared to the rest of the spectators. All the while both Audrey and Bluebell wore kept at the back of the stands tied up and gagged where none of the other spectators would notice them and like Raptalia they were both tied up and gagged with three guards around them including the knight commander who still wore an arrogant smile.

"It'll be quite the spectacle seeing this, that damnable shield devil doesn't have a chance."

Audrey would have wanted to refute that claim but she really couldn't for two obvious reasons, the first was being gagged and the second was the circumstances surrounding the duel that painted it as being unfairly in Motoyasu's favor.

First was the most obvious one which was differences in their weapons, since Naofumi had no actual method for directly attacking he wasn't in much of a position to fight back. The next was the major gap in between the levels, where Naofumi was only at level 23 Motoyasu was at level 42 which was nearly twice what the former's was. The final factor was the fact that Naofumi was still injured from the fight with the chimera albeit not as badly as Audrey herself; it was still enough to visibly hinder his ability to fight.

Actually all things considered not a single thing about this fight was actually fair on any level, the king wasn't trying to enforce a sacred duel he was simply trying to strip Naofumi of his only party member and make a spectacle of further slandering him all the while making Motoyasu out to be some savior.

The entire thing both made Audrey's anger and disgust with the crown and this world's people intensify that much more and pull against her bounds with all her might.

If she and Bluebell could just break free from the ropes holding then they'd be able to put a stop to this entire sham by force injuries or no injuries when it came to herself.

Down in the courtyard Motoyasu pointed his spear at the shield hero wearing a smug expression. "Naofumi be a man and just admit defeat."

Naofumi didn't say anything and switched to his chimera shield.

"So you really wanna do this huh, I tried to give you a chance to save whatever dignity you had but if you don't wanna give up Raptalia then I'll just beat you down and take her from you."

With that Motoyasu dashed towards Naofumi thrusting out his spear which met Naofumi's shield and to his surprise was successfully stopped.

"Say have you ever heard the legend of the unstoppable spear and the immovable shield?" The shield hero suddenly inquired.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The moment you couldn't penetrate my shield was the moment you lost the duel."

Before Motoyasu could give any type of reply two snake heads which were attached to the chimera shield came to life and extended outward biting both of Motoyasu's arms starling him and causing him to stumble backyards.

"Wh-what the…?!" It seemed pretty clear that the spear hero wasn't expecting this, considering the confidence he exerted moments ago he likely thought he could win this with the first blow. Regardless of that however he soon regained his composure. "I guess I should have expected you to be able to stop my normal attacks given your high defense but let's see how you fare against this!" With that Motoyasu reared his spear back readying himself to throw it. **"Thunder spear."**

As Motoyasu sent his weapon sailing after Naofumi it morphed into a mass of lightning that impacted Naofumi's shield and sent him skidding backwards a bit over a meter but the ebony haired shielder remained standing nonetheless whilst his opponent's weapon reformed in his hand.

Naofumi felt a considerable numbness throughout both of his arms which was likely an effect from the thunder element that Motoyasu's skill carried.

"Da-dammit." Naofumi had a foreboding feeling he wasn't going to win this duel and the strength Motoyasu exerted only solidified that view but in spite of all that Naofumi planned to make the effort as grueling and miserable for his opponent as possible in retaliation of Motoyasu bull********ly using the fact that Raphtalia was technically a slave as a means to take her for himself.

After regaining his bearing Naofumi dashed towards Motoyasu who simply smirked believing that his opponent was simply desperate, in the spear hero's mind however it was futile for Naofumi to try and fight back since he had no attack power being a shielder of all things.

No matter what happened Montoyasu would win in the end, if Naofumi had any common sense he'd have taken the spear hero's advice and saved himself the humiliation, no matter what he tried Motoyasu was going save Raphtalia and get her away from Naofumi who was nothing but a lowly rapist and apparently a slaver to boot as such there wasn't any reason that Raptalia should never have been on a team with such a lowly criminal being forced to fight for him hell even if he wasn't a criminal and slaver Motoyasu would take Raphtalia anyway.

Any maiden as beautiful as Raphtalia had no reason to be fighting anything least of all alongside the hero who was doomed to fail being of a loser class in all, rather she should be all rights be in his own party and harem cheering for him as he protected her from all danger, he could practically picture it in his mind already, the racoon demi thanking him for saving her from a monster like Naofumi, throwing her arms around him and kissing him, joining his party, and eventually heating up the night with him and maybe as an added bonus Audrey would also finally see that Motoyasu was the true hero along with her own companion, her name was Bluebell if he remembered right. He was looking forward to hooking with all three of them after this duel.

But before any of that he had to deal with the criminal and dead weight among the cardinal heroes, it was simple enough, Naofumi was nothing more than a walking target who was utterly worthless, enough skills would bring him down sooner or later, actually the very next one would be finishing blow it with how weak he was.

With that thought in mind Motyasu fired another skill as Naofumi continued running at him with his shield held over his head earning a scoff from the spear hero believing that Naofumi's attempt at protecting himself wouldn't amount to anything before unleashing another of his skills. **"Chaos spear"**

Motoyasu's spear split into multiple spear like projectiles that flew towards Naofumi impacting his shield as well as his body in multiple places only for Motoyasu's previous assumption to be blown out the window when Naofumi much to his shock endured the attack from his skill and sent a punch straight into his face that caused him to stagger backwards.

While it didn't take in hp from him it still had a lot of force behind it to have a significant impact upon coming into contact with his face. "Wh-what the."

Naofumi meanwhile wasted no time in pressing his attack as he reached within his cape and pulled out an orange balloon monster and flung Motoyasu who instinctively raised his arm to protect his face only for the orange monster to bite down on the appendage within its path. "Arrrghhh."

'Good to know that the little guys can cause you pain along with my punch, let's see what else I can do to traumatize you.' Naofumi thought before summoning an air strike shield which he sent straight into Montoyasu's stomach knocking the air out of him and sending him flying across the arena.

Acting quickly Naofumi followed up reaching into his cape and throwing a few more orange balloons at Motoyasu which each latched on to various parts of the spear hero's body before Naofumi decided to utilize another one of his skills. **"Shield prison."**

Naofumi smiled as Motoyasu was encased in a sphere of shields leaving him with majorly reduced room of maneuver which in turn meant he wouldn't be able to dispatch the balloons biting away at him but the shield hero wasn't done just yet.

**"Shield change, poison needle."** A scream of pain erupted from the sphere holding Motoyasu. Many of the nobility were shocked by this development and began expressing worry at what was happening.

"How can this be?"

"Is the spear hero going to lose?"

The audience's shock turned to anger and resentment.

"Doesn't the spear hero's opponent have any honor?"

"Why would he when he's the devil of the shield?"

From the back of the stands where she and her companion were still restrained Audrey was now watching the Duel intently, when this sham of duel started she was angry with the unfairness of it do to the fact that not only was Naofumi's ability to fight severely limited due to his weapons purely defensive nature along with the gap between his and Motoyasu's level along with his injuries. But now she had hope, after seeing Naofumi gain the upperhand and turn the duel in his favor in spite of the odds being so far against him and everyone's belief.

Even if the trash king, lying cunt, stuck up sword hero, insufferable people of this world, that absolutely god awful shitty excuse of a spear wielding hero, and even Naofumi himself all believed that he was a lesser hero because of the weapon he was chosen by Audrey knew better, if anything Naofumi was every bit a hero as Audrey herself as well as the other two maybe even more of one considering he was the only one who really took the initiative to protect the people of this world which was something Audrey would make sure he knew the next time she spoke to him.

**Requirements for sacred bond series met: sword hero: unable to connect, spear hero: unable to connect, shield hero: unable to connect.**

Audrey found herself confused by the sudden notification in her HUD but she chose to ignore it for the time being before noticing a sight that brought her previous outrage back to the forefront of her mind. Myne had snuck into the arena and was holding a glowing hand out.

It was more or less a given what Myne was planning considering what the redhead had already shown so far. Audrey began pulling harder against her restraint than she ever had previously earning a laugh from the knight commander. "It's no use in your condition so just stay silent and watch as the lowly shield hero loses and his slave is set free by the noble spear hero."

Everything that came out of this knight commander's mouth only served to add fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile in the arena the sphere of shields had dissipated revealing a weakened spear hero struggling to stand.

"I suggest you give up now unless you want your face ruined."

"Wh-why would ever surrender to the likes of you?"

"Because you're going to lose this duel."

"N-no one would ever accept that conclusion!"

"Have it your way." Before Naofumi could even begin to run after the spear hero a mass of wind hit him in his back causing him to stumble forward.

Looking behind Naofumi caught sight of Myne standing at the edge of the arena with her hand outstretched smirking at him.

Naofumi growled in anger but realized that he should have expected something like this, considering the length she, the king, and Motoyasu were going to wrong him at every turn of course they wouldn't be fair about this.

Unfortunately the distraction gave Motoyasu time to recover from Naofumi's previous assault and attempt to rush him going on the attack.

"Hey wait a minute!" Naofumi exclaimed quickly raising his shield just before his opponent was upon him.

"Not happening!" With that Motoyasu began thrusting his spear at Naofumi with all his might and pushed the shield hero back little by little.

Naofumi saw his hp bar dropping gradually with each hit he took and things only worsened when Motoyasu decided to use one of his skills again.

**"Thunder spear."**

Naofumi grunted in pain as the skill impacted his shield and sent him skidding backwards a few feet.

Motoyasu refused to relent in his attack and closed in on the shield hero utilizing his other skill.

**"Chaos spear."**

Multiple projectiles impacted Naofumi forcing one knee all the while Motoyasu ran after intending to land the finishing blow.

Naofumi felt his anger at this situation rise up inside of him. First he had this entire experience ruined right after he was summoned here by the king, the bitch who interfered with duel, and Motoyasu when they all framed him for a crime he didn't commit and now they were going to great lengths to take the only companion he had from him and for what. Simply to see him suffer? So Motoyasu could spread Raphtalia's legs? Was he really just meant to lose anything and everything he ever gained in this world?

"Dammit!" Naofumi cried out in anger before he leveled his shield with Motoyasu and activated his only remaining skill. **"Shield bash." **Naofumi's entire body zipped forward before his shield collided with Motoyasu's face hard and sent the spear hero flying backyards across the arena.

While the spear hero was still recovering Naofumi turned his attention to the person responsible for interfering but before he could even attempt to call her out on her previous action the red haired adventurer had already sent another attack at him this time being a fireball.

Since the incoming attack was already so close that by the time Naofumi registered what was happening he didn't have time to block or dodge the attack and was hit by the full brunt of it.

"Aarrrrghhh." As Naofumi felt himself getting burnt he managed to catch a glimpse of a second fireball headed for him. 'That bitch!' He thought as he leapt out of the way before hearing a scream of pain and glanced in the direction it came from to see that the attack had hit Motoyasu by some off chance.

A small part of Naofumi couldn't help but take a small bit of joy in what had happened to the spear hero, some might think it wrong of him to enjoy someone else's pain but what could they have possibly expected at this point? Motoyasu hadn't exactly given Naofumi any reason to like him, if anything Naofumi hated him as much as he hated Myne and the king if not more.

Unfortunately his joy was cut short when a green light enveloped the spear hero gradually healing him causing Naofumi to look in Myne direction and to see that she was long gone but when he looked in the other entrance he saw a guard with both of their hands out towards Motoyasu.

'Are you f***ing kidding me?!' First the attacks from Myne and now this?

Unfortunately Naofumi's train of thought was cut as the spear hero who had now recovered was running after him again.

**"Thunder spear!" **

Naofumi was forced to block the attack which sent him skidding backwards before he suddenly found his own body enveloped in a purple light and felt as if he was losing strength which alarmed him greatly.

Was someone using a spell to weaken him? If they were then they couldn't be going for his attack stat since it was practically none existent, but it wasn't his speed, his reflexes didn't feel like they were waning in the least so what was being weakened.

Glancing at his stats the shield hero was greeted with a sight that made him turn cold. They weren't weakening any of his secondary stats they; were going for his main one, his defense.

It was already taking everything Naofumi had to endure Motoyasu's attacks and skill thanks to the gap between their level along with the injuries he sustained from the fight with the chimera, if his defense was reduced he was a sitting duck.

Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about it, everyone was against him so no one would do anything to stop what was happening and he didn't have a skill that affected stats so he couldn't counter that stat reduction that way and magic was out of the question since he didn't know any.

Things only got worse as Motoyasu thrusted his spear at Naofumi, with his defense reduced every attack that hit him left gashes rather than simple scratches and even those that he blocked his shield sent painful vibrations through his entire body now. His Hp bar was now dropping at a considerable rate.

**"Chaos spear!"**

Naofumi was hit with an onslaught of projectiles, this time he was completely overwhelmed as he was pushed back until his body finally gave out and he was laying on his back with Motoyasu standing over him with his spear pointed at Naofumi's chest wearing a shit eating grin.

"The spear hero is the winner." Aultcray announced.

The nobles and knights alike cheered at the spectacle whilst King made his way down to the arena along with a still bound Raphtalia in tow being dragged by a group of guards at each side of her.

**XXXXX**

At the back of the stands Audrey was pulling harder at her bounds than she ever had before and with more strength than even she would have thought possible for herself, the knight commander and two guards that were assigned to keep her and Bluebell restrained were standing in front of the two just as immersed in Naofumi's defeat as the rest and no longer paying attention to either of the two.

The sound of her bounds straining against her wrist became more audible by the second but none of their captors bothered to take notice since they were certain she couldn't break free which had already became apparent when they initially scoffed and laughed at her when the bow hero had initially started.

Audrey could feel the ropes holding strength inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter as she continued to pull against them. Just a little more and…

The ropes finally gave way and snapped in half. The moment she was finally free, Audrey wasted no time in summoning her bow to her hands and sending an arrow through Bluebell's bounds setting her free.

One of the two guards glanced back briefly when they heard a lot of shuffling noises but by the time they even registered that the duo had got loose Audrey had already sent an arrow into their shoulder.

Causing them to yelp in pain and fall to the ground gaining the attention of the remaining guard and knight commander the latter of whist was only able to turn around long enough to see an elbow collide with his face sending him into the back of the lower row of seats and knocking him out courtesy of Audrey.

Meanwhile Bluebell had made two moderately deep gashes into both of the remaining guard's thighs majorly hindering their ability to stand or walk due to the pain brought on by their injuries.

"Let's hurry and get down to the arena." Audrey said.

Not needing to be told twice Bluebell followed after the bow hero to put an end to this atrocity the king, the hero of the spear, and the red haired wench were all intent on committing against sir Naofumi. Before this she at least wanted to give the king and hero of the spear the benefit of the doubt, to believe that they still had some semblance of honor in spite of what Audrey had told her of them and the latter's demeanor towards Naofumi after the wave, but after what's been done here even Bluebell herself could no longer believe in either of the two.

XXXXX

Back down in the arena Naofumi was now left in a daze as he watched helplessly as a mage dumped a purple substance on Raphtalia's slave crest. Within moments the crest was gone leaving the racoon's demi's chest bare of any marking.

At the same time Naofumi saw a notification in his HUD informing him that the slave contract between himself and Raphtalia was terminated. Honestly even though a part of him just wanted to tell himself that this was inevitable from the beginning of the duel all things considered but he couldn't help but feel a sense of despair wail up inside of himself.

Once again he began to recall how he had been shoved in the mud right from the start upon being summoned to this world and for what, just because he had a shield of all things?

Some part of japanese college student wanted to laugh bitterly at everything happening to him but even that seemed impossible, even when he tried to crawl through the mud the king, Myne, and Montoyasu along with this entire world leapt at the chance to knock him back down without missing a beat all the while making themselves look like the heroes in the process.

Glancing at his shield he recalled how he was written off as worthless by Motoyasu and Ren, how it denied him any means of attack and how everything bad that happened could be traced back to this damn shield. Was it really supposed to be a weapon to save the world or just something to ensure he suffers? Honestly at this point the latter seemed more like a given then a possibility. Grabbing the legendary shield, Naofumi tore it from his arm.

"I HATE THIS SHIELD!" he yelled out as he threw it across the arena floor. If only he didn't have that god awful piece of equipment he wouldn't need to suffer anymore. If the entire world hated the shield hero that much then he no longer wanted the role anymore, the people of this could just have the three that weren't powerless.

Unfortunately for Naofumi the shield itself had other ideas as it reappeared on his arm which only served to deepen the college student's despair that much further upon being confronted with the realization he didn't have the option of forfeiting the role he was forced into. 'I can't even get rid of this thing?'

**Requirements for curse series met.**

Had Naofumi been in a more rational or at least a calmer one he may have noticed the notification but all he could do now was let despair and anger overtake him as his vision became distorted as the scene change him and he found himself sounding by darkness and distorted silhouettes with the only three figures that still showed clearly being. Rapthalia, Bluebell, and Audrey which all turned to him.

"I'm finally free, now I no longer have to fight for you." The figure of Raphtalia said before disappearing.

"You're little more than a criminal, you're not even fit to carry the title of hero." The figure of Bluebell disappeared.

The final figure of Audrey followed up with her own statement. "Why did I have to fight alongside a worthless shielder, Ren and Motoyasu are far better heroes than you could ever be." With that the final figure disappeared leaving Naofumi within the dark murky abyss with no one to turn to.

XXXXX

Down in the arena Raphtalia now freed of her bounds at last strutted in the hero of the spear's direction who waited eagerly in anticipation.

At the very least he was expecting a show of verbal gratitude along with some cute blush maybe? It'd be a good starting off point for hooking up later or maybe the Racoon demi human would kiss and maybe even french him right off the bat; Motoyasu certainly wasn't closed off to the idea if anything he'd prefer it since it would mean being to dive into more carnal activities even sooner.

It was a fair reward for a protagonist such as himself after all he did just free Raphtalia from a life of fighting for a monster like Naofumi. A life of fighting which wasn't for her or any maiden for that matter and since he already had his own harem which would now have another woman if not three more it was about time Motoyasu got to finally have a little fun.

Soon Raphtalia was right in front of him with one of her arms outstretched. Motlyasu was expecting a hug but instead Raphtalia's arm flew across his field of vision and her hand impacted his face rather painfully causing him to stumble back in shock.

It took the hero of the spear a few moments that felt like they were dragging on without end for him to process what just happened but before it could truly sink in the voice of an angry Raptalia yelled at him. Wait why was she angry?

"You cheat!"

"H-huh?" Was the only reply that Motoyasu could muster as he struggled to wrap his mind around what was happening.

"You don't understand a single thing about Naofumi!"

"Wh-what do you mean, why are you defending him when he had you as a slave?"

"He never once forced me to do anything I wasn't able to."

"What? But Naofumi isn't that type of person."

"How would you know when you haven't seen anything he's done for me? When he barely had anything for himself he still gave me food when I was hungry and medicine when I was sick and dying."

"He's forcing you to fight monsters isn't he."

"The only time he's ever used the slave crest on me is when I refused to fight."

"And that's the entire problem no one should be forced to fight."

"Naofumi can't attack anything on his own so he needs someone to play the part of his sword."

"It doesn't have to be you though."

Raphtalia was about to refute that but was beaten to it by an unexpected arrival. "Yes it does especially after what you the king and your fucking teammate pulled."

Motoyasu turned to see Audrey shooting him a furious glare that actually caused him to feel a bit of fear for the first time since he came to this world but he refused to relent in his argument. "Audrey, you can't seriously still be taking Naofumi's side after everything he's done. He left you to fight against the chimera alone because he knew how weak he was and on top of that he had Raphtalia as a slave."

Audrey felt her anger rise considerably upon hearing this. Was Motoyasu still trying to convince her that he had the moral high ground?

"First of all he didn't leave me to fight the chimera on my own, he actually tried to sacrifice himself to ensure my safety."

"That can't be true, you were hurt when I saw you."

"That was due to my own actions and in that same regard I'm only alive because he protected me also the only reason he has a slave is because you, Myne, and the kingdom's piss ruler put him in a position where he was forced to get one."

"But it's wrong for him to have a slave."

Audrey began to wonder just how persistent was Motoyasu was going to be with this little charade of his, he sure knew how to get the tone down to the point that it almost sounded as if he himself actually believed what he was sa…- It suddenly hit Audrey, the spear hero wasn't actually in on the plot to ruin Naofumi, he like everyone else was being mislead.

It almost made the bow hero have pity on the son of a b**** but if he truly was being manipulated than he was beyond retarded if he couldn't see all the obvious flaws with his delusions even when they were presented right in front of him. As such the key word when it came to any possible pity was "almost" plus there was his motivations behind his actions which were all steered by his sickening desires this duel being a prime example.

Raphtalia decided to go off on the spear hero once more. "Naofumi's been nothing but kind to me, he saved me from dying when no one else cared to lift a finger for me. Can you say you're capable of the same kindness?"

"O-of course I am."

"If you were then you would have a slave in your party."

Motoyasu was left stunned in silence as Raphtalia began making her way over to where Naofumi was but Myne stepped in front of her. "Stop right where you are, you filthy dem-aagghh."

Myne's attempt at halting Raphtalia ended with her being shoved out of the way by the latter which helped ease some of Audrey's anger at seeing the redhead get a small amount of what she deserved. Unfortunately when she finally looked in the direction of the shield hero the state he was currently in made her mind go blank.

Just from his pasture one could easily tell that the shield hero was overcome with despair. Did he believe that Raphtalia would abandon him or did his despair run even deeper?

Seeing the state Naofumi had been driven too reminded Audrey of how terrible the people of this world truly were and caused her to once more ask herself why they were so intent on making Naofumi suffer. What had he done to deserve this, to be framed, shunned, hazed and stripped of anything he had? For god sake out of all four of the heroes he was the most sincere about saving the people of this world, the spear hero's only concerned was the attention he got from any woman whom he believed was a potential partner for sex, the sword hero was only concerned with basking in his personal delusions of self superiority and grandeur, and Audrey herself while she wasn't eager to admit it after seeing the true colors of the people of this world she didn't necessarily care if they lived or died.

Seeing this happen only further solidified that view, honestly after seeing and listening to the people egg on this duel just to see Naofumi lose Audrey could no longer see these people as being worth saving.

**"Requirements for curse series met."**

Audrey was so close to summoning her bow to her hand and firing every offensive skill at Motoyasu that she was practically visualising the scenario inside of her head and would have went through with it if not for Bluebell grabbing a firm hold of Audrey's arm before shaking her head prompting the bow hero to calm down.

Meanwhile Raphtalia had gone over and knelt down in front of Naofumi. "Master Naofumi please look at me."

"Stay away, I don't want anyone who's going to betray me!"

Raphtalia looked taken aback by what Naofumi had just shouted out but she didn't leave her spot in front of him.

"Master Naofumi, what would I have to do to gain your trust?"

"Why would I trust someone who's just going to betray and frame me for something I didn't do?"

Raphtalia appeared somewhat hurt by Naofumi's rebuttal but even so she refused to give up on the person who gave her a reason to live when she had lost everything else. "Naofumi I know of the rumors but I believe- no I know they're not true."

Naofumi looked up at Raphtalia in surprise, he couldn't believe what he was hearing as his former slave continued whilst pulling the shield hero into an embrace. "The world may call you a criminal but I know the truth, you're the kind and noble shield hero who's fighting to protect and save this world and I'm not the only who believes in you, Audrey also sees you for who you truly are too, both of us believe in you."

The Japanese otaku felt tears begin to form in his eyes while not noticing another person approaching, someone finally believed in him, truly? Taking another look at the person in front of him he soon realized that he didn't recognize them. "Who are you?"

The person in question just smiled at the inquiry before replying. "It's me, Raphtalia."

"Impossible Raphtalia was just a kid." Naofumi mused unable to truly believe the woman holding him in her arms was truly the same child he purchased from the slave owner all that time ago.

"Naofumi have you still not realized it?"

Silence was the only reply that the tanuki received so she merely continued.

"We demi humans age rapidly when we level up, that's why I look the way I do, but that's not what I want to tell you. I know I have already told you this before but no matter what path you decide to tread I'll always be by your side through all of it."

Naofumu could hardly come to terms with what he had been told just now in fact before it could completely sink in Raptalia pulled Naofumi completely into her embrace before he felt another weight crash into his back followed by a new pair of arms being wrapped around his waist.

"Naofumi I have some words for you for being the idiot you are." A familiar voice said shocking the shield hero once more. "Au-Audrey?"

From behind Naofumi the bow hero wrapped her arms more firmly around his waist whilst resting her head on his back. "That should go without saying after everything I've done to support you anyway like I just said I have a few things to say to you tomorrow but for now let just stay like this."

"Naofumi you're not alone." Raphtalia said. Upon hearing that that final barrier on Naofumi's heart broke down and the pain he had been holding in was let out as tears poured down his face as he rested within the embrace of the two people in this world who he truly now knew cherished him.

On the other side of the arena Motoyasu who had broken out of his stupor looked on at the scene with more astonishment than he had ever felt in his life even when he was stabbed back on earth. "Why are they siding with Naofumi still, there's no reason for them to be doing that. Raphtalia is finally free to leave him."

The bluenette turned her gaze towards the spear now sporting a look of pure disgust that left Motoyasu even more confused. "Even though lady Raphtalia was initially purchased as a slave she was never treated as one, as she told you lord Naofumi was showed her the utmost kindness and helped her find the strength to move forward when she had lost everything as such Naofumi is someone she cherishes with all her heart and in turn Raphtalia was become an irreplaceable person in his life."

"That can't possibly be the case, Naofumi would never do something like that for anyone."

"You're in no position to be saying what kind of person sir Naofumi is, you don't know the first thing about him."

"But he had Raphtalia as a slave, even you have to know that's wrong."

"You may be right that the practice of slavery in and of itself is disgusting but it's common within this kingdom, in fact I can assure you that the majority of the Nobles who you were basking in the praise of have slaves of their own that they mistreat and abuse. If you're truly looking to help slaves then rescue the ones in their possession."

"But what about Raphtalia? I saved her from Naofumi."

Bluebell could only facepalm in annoyance at the spear hero's persistence when it came to believing he'd done some good deed. "Let me ask you this. When did she ever ask you to save her?"

Motoyasu opened his mouth to reply but stopped short when he realized that there was no answer since the demi human never actually came to him for help. But still there was no way she could possibly want to be on the same team as Naofumi when Motoyasu was a better hero.

"In the end it doesn't matter since you lost the duel."

"Wh-what that's impossible I pinned Naofumi."

"Only because your companion hit him with magic distracting and weakening him."

"What are you saying?!"

"Your partner interfered with the duel on your behalf."

"Myne would never do that!"

"She did, whether you accept it or not."

"But I didn't see it."

"I did and so did everyone else present even if they'll deny it on the king's behalf."

"Lady Coventry I would appreciate it if you wouldn't make such accusations against my daughter Malty less you wish for your family's position to be affected." The king said hoping to dissuade Bluebell from ruining his plan much to his dismay however he got a reply that shot his threat down.

"Well if you intend to do anything to wrong or harm my family I would suggest that you remember we have the queen's favor enough that you'll likely be faced with retribution once she returns."

Upon hearing this the Aultcray became speechless seeing as his hope of shutting Bluebell's attempt to thwart him and Malty down had only resulted in his threat being thrown right back at him and what was worse was that the Bluenette was right, the Coventry family had been one of the more avid supporters in his wife's policies and if he tried to do anything to do away with them his wife would have his life in her hands and likely end it depending of what he specifically did.

Still there was one more angle Aultcray could work so he could have his guards seize Raphtalia permanently without having his ploy exposed. "You're the only person here claiming my daughter interfered but there's no one else to support your claim."

"That's because you paid these nobles to keep silent on the matter." Came the voice of Ren who had entered the arena.

'Dammit!' The king thought in rage. This is the last thing he needed, he had initially had the bow hero and her companion restrained so they couldn't say anything if the need to tamper with the duel arose and the former of the two seemed distracted with comforting and whoring herself up to the shield devil but now that the sword hero of all people was speaking up he'd be forced to give up on this entire attempt.

The thought made him cringe with disgust, he didn't go through the trouble of selecting adventures who were either avid believers in the church of the three heroes or would easily buy into the rumor that the shield devil had no knowledge of this world then help his daughter frame the false hero just so he could obtain an ally regardless. If he had a slave within his possession he'd have a means to continually grow stronger.

At least to a considerable extent but there was one more thing Aultcray could do to ensure the Naofumi's hero's growth would remain stunted, it was just a matter a sending the order to the three heroes church and considering it would coincide with their personal beliefs he doubted they'd have any qualm carrying the order out.

Ren turned to Motoyasu and spoke. "You lost the duel Motoyasu, not only did your companion hit Naofumi with magic but the knights healed you and used a debuff on Naofumi."

"There's no way that can be true!"

"It is. Both me and Bluebell can attest to it and odds are Audrey could too."

"Bu-but."

"Enough!" Bluebell shot off silencing the hero of the spear before continuing. "You've lost the duel spear hero, therefore Raphtalia shall stay with Naofumi."

"But she shouldn't be forced to fight, no one should."

"You say no one should be forced to fight yet you had no problem forcing Naofumi into a duel with you simply so you could deprive him of his only ally out of nothing more than a sickening sense of entitlement to her."

"How do you figure that? I was trying to save Raphtalia because she was someone who needed help."

"If you truly had such pure intent than as Raphtalia herself said you would have a slave in your party giving them a purpose to strive for like Naofumi has done besides…."

Bluebell let the silence drag on for a few moments before continuing and making an inquiry that Motoyasu could not have intended.

"Let's say Naofumi was abusing and mistreating Raphtalia the way you're insisting he does but she was a man rather than a woman. Would you still care to step in then?"

"..."

"That's a question you should truly ask yourself if you're going to feign yourself as someone who's truly noble, being a hero means helping all those in need not just those who appeal to your personal desires so let me be clear on something. Raphtalia is not yours for the taking nor is anyone sir Naofumi may meet going forward, should you insist on trying to deprive him of companions for your own gain not only would lady Audrey become your enemy but after what I've seen of you I'll also feel inclined to do so."

With that Bluebell simply watched the trio have their moment whilst both the king and his daughter snarled in frustration before leaving along with Ren.

Montoyasu just stared at the ground in frustration wondering why things turned out the way they did. Why did Rapthalia get angry with him, why was Bluebell turning against him and why was Audrey so steadfast in siding with Naofumi? Why was it the worthless shielder being embraced by two beautiful women when it should have been him in their arms? Why was everyone making him out to be the villain when he was the hero? He didn't do anything wrong.

XXXXX

The following morning the quartet had met up on one of the castle walls just before they had to meet up with the king to receive their rewards. The reason being was because after Naofumi felt better Audrey made it known that she had something serious to talk with Naofumi about.

That tone she used heavily implied she was upset with him about something. Whatever it was, Naofumi wanted to make it right as soon as he could, he was extremely relieved the previous night when neither she nor Raphtalia abandoned him needless to say he didn't want to run the risk of losing either of them now. But he couldn't figure what he could have done to angered her for the life of him.

He never said anything or did anything offensive to her unless there's something unusual that set her off but if that was the case then the japanese college student had no idea what it could have been.

Sighing, he resolved himself to face the music. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Your actions from the other day when we were fighting the wave."

"Huh? What could I have done there? I didn't abandon you, if anything I tried to sacrifice myself to save you."

This reply drew a look of shock and outrage from Raphtalia but before she could try to chew Naofumi out Audrey walked up to the shield and to everyone's shock in a rare fit a violence that no one saw coming sent a fist into Naofumi's stomach causing him to hunch over.

The shield hero was left mentally floored by what had just happened wondering how Audrey was capable of this when not only was he supposed to have the best defense out of anyone present or in the entirety of this world for that matter. Also wasn't Audrey supposed to have the worst injuries out of anyone present from the fight with the waves, how was she still able to muster up this kind of strength. Naofumi had a foreboding feeling that the guy who Audrey told him about from her high school days was left with more than a bloody lip unless she was holding back.

"And that's the entire problem!" The bow hero yelled out stunning the shield hero before he looked up to see Audrey glaring at him with a mixture of anger and hurt. "Why would you try and throw away your life?!"

Naofumi was stunned by this. He never thought that his attempt at self sacrifice of all things was what had Audrey angry with him. "I know that this world's people for the majority part are assholes and that this entire ordeal has been made into a living hell for you but that doesn't mean you should give up your life the first chance you get especially not for such an idiotic reason like the one you gave me."

"But I'm just a….."

"Just a shielder?" Audrey finished for Naofumi which left him unable to come up with a reply.

"Naofumi I thought I already told you before when we first met that the shield just has a different role to play."

"Yeah but I still can't do anything against monsters so wouldn't it be better if I was the one to get killed if one of us had to be?"

This only earned a groan of annoyance from the bow hero on the surface though on the inside she was restraining herself from sending another fist into Naofumi's stomach and unbeknownst to her Raphtalia was in a similar state of mind.

"Oh my god. How stupid can you be?"

"Huh?"

"Naofumi just being able to attack something doesn't automatically make you special nor does being given any of the legendary weapons define you as such."

The shield hero could only respond with silence as Audrey continued.

"If simply being able to attack something alone was enough to determine if you're successful or not then Ren and Motoyasu should have been able to take that chimera down, hell neither one of us would have to do anything at all if that were the case!"

Audrey exhaled, calming herself down a bit before continuing in a more controlled tone.

"It's not the role your given that determines your worth as a hero, its what you do with it and what you accomplish with it. Motoyasu and Ren might think their special compared to you because they can attack monsters but so far the only things they've accomplished is getting higher levels for the sake of priorities that are nothing more than self-serving to their own egos and delusions, neither of them has done anything worthy of the title hero even during the fight with the wave."

Naofumi pondered what Audrey had said and found he couldn't really refute, not that he wanted to but still that the fact remained the sword and spear heroes' only priority was stroking their own egos, they weren't concerned with the lives of anyone living in this world at all.

"You on the other hand were the only one of us who truly lifted a finger for anyone here even after how much you've been ridiculed and wronged at every turn, it's because of you that the people of Lute are still alive and that I'm still here."

"Wait- when did I save you?"

"Towards the end of the fight when you blocked the final turret of fire that would have killed me otherwise."

Naofumi struggled to recall such a thing but he really couldn't, in fact he couldn't recall to many specific details at all, just how desperately he was fighting to make sure everyone else made it through that ordeal alive.

"Naofumi what I'm trying to get at is that what everyone from King, his lying daughter, Ren, Motoyasu, and everyone else believes about you is wrong, you have much more worth than they say you do as the shield hero. So you need to stop with the self-deprecating mindset that they've instilled in you because unlike Ren or Motoyasu you've actually accomplished something worthy of being called heroic. So I don't ever want you needlessly trying to throw your life away under the bull**** belief that you have the least amount of worth because you have a defensive weapon. Am I clear?" Audrey demanded whilst jabbing a finger at Naofumi.

"Ye-yeah."

"I want you to promise me you won't needlessly try and get yourself killed. I won't forgive you if you throw your life away because of what the trash of this world says about you."

"Alright I promise. But does it really matter that much to you?"

"Of course it does!" Audrey yelled out causing Naofumi to flinch. "That should go without saying after all I've done for you. Honestly can't you finally tell you have people that care for you including myself?"

Naofumi thought about it and recalled how Audrey reassured him when the sword and spear heroes deemed him worthless for having the shield, how she defended him at the trial when he was set up by the Myne, how she provided information to and resources to help him along his journey and how she promised she'd always be on his side regardless of what the rest of the world thought. It was at that moment in time that Naofumi finally and truly realized he wasn't alone, like with Raphtalia Audrey's words before now weren't truly reaching him because of the state he was in but now he felt like such an idiot, he's had someone who's truly believed in him right from the beginning.

"Audrey." The shield hero said before startling the bow hero when he suddenly grabbed her which momentarily confused her until he suddenly pulled her to an embrace.

Upon feeling Naofumi's arms wrapped around her it was the bow hero's turn to be taken aback for once before hearing the shield hero mouth the words "Thank you." Leaving her stunned for a few long moments before she finally registered what was happening.

**Play Atashi go tonari ni iru uchi ni**

It felt as if Audrey's body was moving of its own accord as she felt her own arms wrap around the shield hero and her body melted into his embrace whilst a smile made its way onto her face. "Thank you...for everything." Naofumi mused.

"Of course, never forget what you mean to the others or to me."

"I won't."

The two heroes simply held their embrace in silence prompting a smile from Bluebell who was glad to see that Audrey had reconciled with Naofumi. Though she couldn't help but giggle at the sight before noticing the shield hero's companion.

Raphtalia who had been silent through the entire exchange had wanted to berate Naofumi when she had initially heard how he tried to make himself a martyr simply because he believed himself worthless but Audrey had done the job for her.

She was also grateful when Audrey made Naofumi realize he had just as much worth as any of the heroes regardless of what the world may have believed and that she made him promise to be more considerate with his life.

But at the same time an unusual sensation was felt with her chest that she was sure of, all she could tell was that it felt oddly painful but why it suddenly wailed up inside of her was a mystery. This was a happy occasion, the person who gave her the will to go forward in spite of her past, the person she now knew she loved realized he wasn't alone.

Looking at the scene in front between the two heroes and remembering all the interactions the two of them had, it suddenly dawned on her just what Naofumi may have truly meant to the bow hero even if she herself never said and maybe not even realized it. Even so, what Raphtalia felt might have been a more selfish part of her refused to simply give up on her new hopes when it came to the hero who saved her from despair. 'Audrey I won't lose to you.'

From her spot Bluebell simply sighed upon knowing what the tanuki demi human was likely thinking but her smile remained nonetheless. 'Audrey for all your outspoken and honest nature, you can be rather dense to your own feelings. That's fine for the time being.'

Bluebell glanced at Raphtalia once more. 'But if you wait too long sir Naofumi's partner may act first.'

**Atashi go tonari ni iru uchi ni end**

XXXXX

From a higher vantage point within the castle a man wearing elegant and rounded glasses watched the interaction of the quartet outside more so the interaction between the bow hero and shield devil to the point of their embrace before letting out a disappointed sigh.

When the heroes were first summoned he had hoped that all three of the heroes which were meant to ensure humanity's triumph over the demi humans would all condemn the shield devil that had forsaked human kind, but the bow hero refused to act in mankind's best interest.

After the trial the convicted the shield devil the figure had hoped the bow hero would eventually come to her senses and embrace her true purpose but she remained steadfast in her misguided devotion.

If the bow hero no she was no longer the true bow hero if she was so intent on whoring herself up to the shield devil then she would need to be purged along with him for the better and supremacy of humanity.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter. Anyway let me explain why it mostly followed cannon since there were readers hoping that the duel would go differently and actually I originally was going to have Naofumi win since I also like seeing Motoyasu lose but a problem arose when I wanted to keep the scene where Raptalia went to console and make Naofumi see he wasn't alone in the world like he initially thought as well as put the scene at the end where Audrey hammered home that having a defensive role did not define as him worthless like trash, bitch, and the two other heroes think needless to say I had written myself into a corner when I tried to have Naofumi win.**

**Also Motoyasu's victory helps solidify hatred toward Bitch, trash, and more so to the point in the particular story himself.**

**And when it came to that final scene between Audrey and Naofumi I hope I did a good job of portraying it in a heartwarming manner that you'd find appealing.**

**And before anyone asks about the sacred bond series it's going to play a major role during later parts of the story but as you might be able to guess the reading the text "unable to connect" three times in a row Audrey's not going to be able to use it for a while so what it does is not going to be shown any time soon so your gonna have to be patient.**

**One more thing in regards to reviews saying Audrey came off as too much of a follower of Naofumi. There were two reasons that he was the one taking the lead.**

**First from a writer perspective I want Naofumi to retain his roles, such as leading the knights or being the lord of his own territory like in cannon, Audrey's the main protagonist here but that doesn't mean she's going to taking over every political role that Naofumi would otherwise play which brings to the second reason. **

**When it comes to Audrey's character unlike Itsuki she's not the least bit interested in being in the spotlight since her priority it this point is just trying to get through the ordeal of the waves for the sake of surviving and also she has no reason to present herself in a way that make her seem like a charismatic figure to the people when her personal opinion is getting lower and lower due to all of their unjust actions towards Naofumi. Also Naofumi's plan when it came to the formations and roles was the most logical course of action during the wave so she wasn't going to undermine least of all to establish herself as some type of alpha figure.**

**That being said if a situation calls for it she'll assume the leadership role then meaning she'll be leading her party during in between missions where the waves are not involved.**


End file.
